I just got back from some more Yoga training. Although I didn’t completely connect with the training itself, I always bring something positive back with me. This time it was the music. The music was the most memorable thing. The songs this particular Yoga instructor chose to play were uplifting, catchy, awesome songs, and none of them were chants (shock .. horror), none of them had a sitar, and none of them were ‘new age’. Some songs were rock and some were pop. What impressed me was that he spends as much preparation time on his playlists as he does on his sequences. They were as unique as he was, and I had a revelation! I often put together playlists of ‘Yoga’ music and never really feel connected to them at all. They become like 'elevator' music. Background music with it's only purpose being to drown out the occasional embarrassing release of gas, or to set the scene and make the class feel more spiritual because you can hear 'Om Shanti' being sung in the distance. I don’t spend much time on the preparation, and I often spend a good amount of time dithering at the I-pod doc during the class to skip a song here and there, change the volume, or even change a playlists because I’ve decided half way through the class that I don’t like it. I realised during this course that if I choose to play music, then it’s a really important part of the class. Why? It sets the mood. It can make, or break a class. Music helps to lift the energy of the class, or can help to bring everyone back down to earth. My Yoga students have no choice but to hear it, so I should respect them and spend more time preparing it. So, yesterday morning I put together a playlist of Aretha, Elton and The Stones (to name a few). I love every single song on this list and it showed in the class. I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face whilst I was teaching in the afternoon! After the class, my students were high. That’s the only way I can describe them. They were high! One student told me that the class was perfect from start to finish, and one said she’ll never listen to ‘Tiny Dancer’ the same way again. A regular student of a few years said it was the best class I'de ever taught. All of the feedback was positive. Full on! Why hadn't I done this years ago??? Yesterday I became a better Yoga teacher. How? I felt at home in the class. All of the songs and the melodies were like home to me and this made the class in its entirety...me.
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I'm interested to hear what music Yoga students and teachers out there on The Yoga Social choose to listen to whilst practicing?
What music inspires you when you're in a Vinyasa class? Or in a Yin class? Do you like traditional Yoga chants and mantras of Kirshna Das or Deva Premal? Or do you like the not so traditional drum and base? or Jazz? Below is a small list of what I've been playing lately ... I just can't help think I'm being too boring and safe. Yoga Groove - Souldfood The Yoga Sessions - Go-Ray and Duke World Yoga - Putamayo (various artists) Om Yoga Volume 1 (modern music for Vinyasa flow) - Various Artisits Please give me some ideas!!!!!!! Angry? Depressed? Stressed? Anxious? Yoga, is a practice of various disciplines to help control our minds restlessness. Today, there have been many studies on the mental benefits of practicing Yoga. These studies show that Yoga can help bring a whole lot of light to our hearts and lives. The meditation, breathing and exercise aspects of Yoga can help to decrease stress and improve quality of life. Regular Yoga practice has proven to improve mood and anxiety as it increases GABA (gamma-Aminobutyric acid) levels in the brain. GABA is a neurotransmitter which serves the brain by firing neurones and helps maintain the balance of your body and mind in times of stress. Lower levels can tense your muscles, speed up your heart rate, and generally effect your overall ability to function. Higher levels can promote balance and wellbeing, reduce stress, depression and anxiety and improve sleep. One German program studied 24 'emotionally distressed' women. Though not formally diagnosed with depression, all women had experienced stress for at least half of the previous 90 days. The women were split into two groups. The control group went about their normal daily routine and the Yoga group were asked to take two 90 minutes classes per week for three months, as well as maintaining their normal daily activities. At the end of three months, women in the Yoga group reported improvements in perceived stress, depression, anxiety, energy, fatigue, and wellbeing. Headaches, back pain and insomnia were also resolved much more in the Yoga group than in the control group. Yoga helps to regulate or 'tame' our stress response system. When this happens, all of those annoying physiological responses we experience during stress or pain, such as our heart thumping, heavy breathing, tightness in the chest and sweaty palms are decreased. We feel like we have more control and can cope a little easier. One Pranayama (breathing) study on depression examined 60 alcoholic men for three weeks. In the first week, each of them went through a standard detoxification program and then for the rest of the study, some (randomly chosen) were asked to practice Pranayama six days a week for the next two weeks. After the three weeks, levels of depression dropped by 75% in the Pranayama group compared to the 60% in the standard group. Also, levels of two stress hormones, cortisol and corticotropin, dropped in the Pranayama group, but not in the standard group. Most of the Yoga practiced today in the west is Hatha Yoga, which includes Yoga poses (Asana), Yoga breathing techniques (Pranayama) and meditation and relaxation (Dhyana and Savasana). Each of these disciplines (or practices) help us to slow down, focus on one thing at a time and quieten the minds restlessness. Stillness of the mind. Like waves in the ocean becoming more and more calm. Don't we all deserve this?! You know that Yogi? We all know him ... or her! That yogi dressed in white sitting on the floor (usually on the beach) in lotus pose looking extremely serene and calm. The one on the cover of every Yoga magazine. The one in the brochure for the Summer Yoga Health Retreat. Well, what if that image isn't just a silly representation of the stereo-typical hippy Yogi who doesn't exist? What if this 'utopian' state is actually easier to attain than we think, naturally attained, no drugs required? Let's put it to the test. If you're stressed out. Try some Yoga. Believe it, be open to it and allow the light to shine. * pranayama study - Sudarshan Kriya Yogic Breathing - Journal of Alternative and Complimentary medicine, New York, 2005. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16131297 * German program - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16319785 I've turned up to many a yoga class frazzled, almost-too-late, having forgotten a headband or with a non-favoured yoga top and still composing emails in my head as I step into the studio. I've wondered, who are all these serene looking people who have evidently been preparing in child's pose for at least the last fifteen minutes, and who are all those other limber yogis warming up by stepping through a downward dog?
Nevermind, I'm here now and I'm looking forward to the 'good bits' of the class. For me, it's the third chaturanga when you're warm enough to be moving smoothly through it but not so far into the class that your shoulders protest as you drop into low push-up and hold it for a looooong five counts of breath. It's hitting the second set of bakasana without toppling over and floating there for a few breaths. It's opening up into half-moon pose and holding the calm and gentle focus I need in my mind to balance there for a while. It's the grace of tree pose and the lightness of a steady shoulder-stand before we make our way into savasana. Now there's a good bit everyone can agree on! I'm not really 'there' for some of the other poses, simply going through the back-bend motions or focussing the mind elsewhere as we sink deeper into a warrior II when the lovely teacher decides to take the opportunity to talk about hip alignment - wasting crucial counting time which means we're stuck there for what must be a million breaths. For some poses, I actively concentrate on just getting through, just passing the time until the next relish-worthy pose. Finally, in savasana - during which I have never, ever, emptied my mind - I reflect on the class and run through an almost automatic scan of how my chatarungas felt, if I really twisted from the rib-cage today, if I really released properly in half-pigeon and goodness, were my shoulder-blades moving in the right plane?! And then, in those last few precious moments before we're told to come back into our bodies (because we're supposed to be meditating elsewhere) I realise that the body is grateful for the entire class and that the whole class was the 'good bit'. We don't move through a 15 minute 'favourites' pose-list and rush off into the world again for a reason. We move through a 90 minute sequence of poses because together they are what the body and mind need - and we don't even realise it. One of my favourite teachers used to repeat that how you are on the mat is how you are in life. He'd call us out on the things we all do - in life and on the mat - grip too hard, push too strongly, refuse ourselves grace, move without ease, hold the breathe. More recently, I've come to realise that something I don't always do on the mat is remain present, in the moment, in whatever pose we happen to be doing. I do it in life as well - look forward to what the mind thinks might be the 'good bits' and spend whole weeks without having been present in a moment. I'm going into a couple of yoga workshops this afternoon and I will try my best to remember that the whole thing is the good bit. On the mat. In life. By Jenny Jiang I've had many students ask me recently for advice regarding teacher training. Usually, they want to go somewhere exotic (India, Bali ....etc), something quick, easy and cheap. Most want it now. Not next year or in 5 years time. Now. Because most of them have been practicing Yoga daily or weekly for 5 (or longer) years so they've been on that yoga journey for what seems like a lifetime! Finally, they've made the decision to change their career, to change their life. We live in a society where most things are easily and quickly accessible. So why can't a Yoga teacher training certificate be too? I won't go into the lesson of patience. That's another blog entry. Lucky for them .. there are HEAPS of short Yoga teacher training courses that give you the required 200 hours up your sleeve so you can register with Yoga Alliance (if the course is Yoga Alliance approved). I won't go into whether I think 200 hours is long enough. That's yet another blog entry. Courses range from your standard 4 week intensive 200 hour teacher training courses set amongst the rice fields of Ubud, to your 12 month part time one night per week course at your local studio (usually 500 hours). I've heard of 12 day teacher training courses at a beach resort somewhere, then you do the rest of the hours at home and submit the work before you get your certification. Then there are those few styles (very respected) where you seem to be training your entire life, you're examined each year and are still considered a 'junior'. I'm currently in the process of writing a Yoga teacher training course. Mine won't be ready for probably another 12 months or so because it's a long process and I want to do it well. I've had the opportunity to take a look at many courses recently (market research .. as you do) and I've got to tell you ... some are awesome, some not so great. So how do you know which course is best for you (before spending $3500 which is the average price)? Firstly, I think it's really important to focus on the class/style you connect with. Ask the teacher who was responsible for turning you into the 'yoga junkie' you are today. If that teacher instructs a certain style of yoga, for example, Anusara, then it's easy. Go to an Anusara immersion. If the instructor teaches a mixture of many approaches and styles for example, he starts the class with a power flow sequence then follows with a restorative seated practice, then it's not so easy. If this is the case, I recommend you have a think about the kind of person you are. Are you an alignment focused person who would simply love a 90 minute class on deconstructing the triangle pose? Are you an athletic person who loves to sweat and move - the more chaturangas the better? Do you love it when your instructor tells stories about Ganesha the elephant god and the Yoga sutras? Is your favourite class of ALL TIME the one when you realised something powerful about your emotional self? Are you a mixture of a few of these? These questions will help to shape the kind of instructor you want to be. You can narrow your list down from here. Chances are, if you love practicing a certain approach .. you'll love teaching the same way. For example, you love your instructor's classes when you jump, sweat and constantly move and you're not really into the cover/sub instructor who tells you to open your heart and let yourself cry. You may want to check out some of the Vinyasa teacher training courses on offer. Another example, you're in a state of bliss when your instructor does the chanting at the beginning and the end, you are so interested in Ganesha to the point that you bought a book about him and in the asana class you need to take your time. You may want to go for something more classical Hatha because they offer an equal balance of all disciplines in their training (including meditation, philosophy chanting etc). I'm a big fan of word of mouth. Ask around. Ask your teachers. Ask the reception desk. Email instructors you love. Ask bloggers :) There are so many different teacher training courses available so make sure you check out the accreditation. Is it Yoga Alliance, or Yoga Australia (or similar) approved? It's not the 'be all and end all' to be registered with one of these industry bodies but personally, as someone who hires Yoga teachers, it at least gives me some indication, if I don't know the school you've trained at, that your certification meets the industry standards. Registration will also help you get insurance and if you are lucky enough they offer short courses for Yoga teachers, they remind you when you need to update your CPR and hold regular gatherings. Once you do your first Yoga teacher training, you'll be hooked. I've recently completed my 4th Yoga teacher training (not to mention all the short courses and workshops). A rant to finish up. I hear of peeps deciding they want to change their career/life to be a Yoga teacher when they don't practice Yoga themselves. Someone telephoned me for advice on Yoga teacher training and she had NEVER been to a Yoga class in her life! Although it's admirable to come to the realisation that something needs to change in your life, I would recommend you put it off for a bit ... find yourself a good Yoga teacher and practice Yoga regularly for at least a few years (many would disapprove of my advice and say at least 5 years). Your decision could change after this... because it is really hard work. I think it's best to experience this discipline mentally, emotionally and physically before you can talk the talk, respect what your students are going through and fully respect the Yoga way of life. Om Om Om, Ambika So I've just finished my home Yoga practice for the day which consisted of forward bends (really ace ones), inversions, forward bends, inversions and then I finished with the splits and a couple of restorative forward bends. What? I did the same practice yesterday? No no no. I mean, sure there were some forward bends, but they were standing ones yesterday. It's because of my insanely flexible hamstrings. I can do all the advanced stuff. They feel good. Okay okay ... it's because I'm good at them and it feeds my ego to only do the things I'm good at!!! Does this sound familiar? I actually force myself to go to classes because I know that if I only did my personal home practice, I would just be doing all the things I'm good at and leaving out twists and backbends. I've now realised this way of practicing has actually hindered my Yoga practice. I'm certainly not stilling the mind. Yoga is about taming the ego and not feeding it right? Then there's the physical downsides, I have tight shoulders and no thoracic awareness, tight hip flexors, quads and an anterior pelvic tilt, so constantly doing poses that only open the back of my body are just making my 'pose obstacles' even larger and my anterior tilt more exaggerated! So why is this self satisfaction so important? I think we've latched on to the idea that Yoga practice is like gymnastics, sport, dance, or athletics. All of these activities do require practice and discipline, but also require a certain level of skill in order for us to feel we're 'good enough'. Many of us resort to the fact that we 'suck' at it and move on. Yoga is different. It's not something anyone will ever suck at! Ever! Recognising our physical obstacles is just another part of Yoga. There should be no self criticism or praise whilst practicing asana. I've heard a senior Yoga teacher once say that his daily asana practice was part of his morning routine, much like brushing his teeth. He just does it, then he goes about with the rest of his day. How do we learn this self discipline? If we're serious about taking our Yoga practice to a deeper level, we can start by studying and practicing the Yoga Sutras. We can apply the Yoga sutras not only to our daily asana practice but to the way we think, feel and act. Svadyaya is a sanskrit term for 'one's own lesson'. It's one of the Niyamas in Patanjali's '8 limbs of Yoga' (Niyama being the 2nd Limb and meaning 'observances') and simply means to polish the mirror and take a look at yourself. Who do you see? I see someone who's about to dedicate a personal practice to backbends and twists :) The Australian department of health and ageing tells us we need to exercise at least 30 minutes per day. Does a daily asana class count as daily exercise? Is Yoga enough or should your weekly Yoga practice be separate to your weekly fitness regime? The objective of Yoga is to realize the union between our mind, body and spirit and to realize ourselves as individual beings intimately connected to the whole of creation. Deep stuff! The foundations of this practice was documented in The Yoga Sutras which described '8 Limbs of Yoga' that form the structural framework for most Yoga practice today. Upon practicing all limbs, we believe one is able to control the minds restlessness which then brings us closer to that union. This practice takes a huge amount of discipline and dedication. So, the physical activity part (which is what most of us practice in the west) is called 'Asana' and is the 3rd Limb of Yoga. I'm well aware that the essence of Yoga is not in a downward facing dog and I'm well aware that the bulk of my class is based on the 3rd Limb (although I do try like many instructors to teach other limbs too). I'm also aware that some of my students are not interested in the '8 Limbs' or 'Yamas and Niyamas' or 'Oms' or 'Swami Sivananda'. They are there in my class 3 times a week to exercise, sweat, strengthen, tone and stretch. So, if this was all the physical activity they were doing in their week, is it enough? Long Island University (2007) have studied and tested 20 intermediate / advanced Yoga practitioners to answer this question. Is Yoga enough? The study concluded that a basic Hatha Yoga class in fact did not meet the recommendations for levels of physical activity for improving or maintaining health or cardiovascular fitness (my guess is they weren't practicing Ashtanga Yoga in this experiment!). They did add that a sun salutation sequence that exceeded 10 minutes may improve cardio-respiratory fitness in unfit or sedentary individuals. My personal experience A few months ago I decided that I didn't feel as fit as I desired. My week looked a little something like this: I went to Ashtanga Yoga once or twice per week, I went to one Yin Yoga class per week, I did my own Yoga practice at home, taught 9 or so classes per week and also taught a class called Rock Aerobics which despite the name, is more of a dance style class rather than fitness class. I hadn't really done much cardio training in the past. I also just turned 40 so this could have had something to do with my crazy decision which was ... Bootcamp. A 60 minute class 5 mornings a week at 6am. Not Yoga bootcamp, but real bootcamp with burpees, running, medicine ball thingys, more burpees ....urgh! I discovered I wasn't fit at all! In fact, I felt like I was going to vomit. Every muscle in my body was sore each day for the first week, then every 2nd day for the second week. By the third week I started to get into it and in the 4th week (on the second to last day) I actually wanted to go to bootcamp and exercise when my alarm went off in the morning. Yep, that's right ... wanted to! Here's the link to Bootcamp Buddy which is what I attend every morning. https://www.facebook.com/BootcampBuddy?fref=ts I'm in my 5th week now and i'm feeling good. It's still hard work, but I enjoy it AND It's helped me tremendously with my Yoga practice. My chaturanga is feeling stronger and 5 sun salute A's and B's are a walk in the park! I personally feel that my Yoga practice is separate to my fitness regime. My Yoga practice is WAY more important and personal as it's about stilling my mind and my ego. I need to exercise. I choose to practice Yoga (all limbs). And they compliment each other. What do you think? Hagins, M., Moore, W., & Rundle, A. (2007). Does practicing hath a yoga satisfy recommendations for intensity of physical activity which improves and maintains health and cardiovascular fitness? BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 7(40). doi:10.1186/1472-6882-7-40 Meet the very inspiring, Olivia Bryant. Yoga teacher, life coach and creator of the yoga, life, relationships, sex and conscious living blog, 'Courageous Yogi'. I asked her a few questions about life and Yoga. What made you attend your first Yoga class? I think i was always a bit of an explorer. I got this from my dad who was an antarctic explorer. I'm more of a pychonaut. I was reading self help books at a young age though i have no idea why. I wanted answers to life's big questions like 'what am I supposed to do with my life?' and 'how can I get over that ex-boyfriend?' (I was 17). I think my questions got bigger the more I explored yoga (thankfully). Can you describe how you felt in your first class (if you can remember)? Er...bored! I really didn't understand why I was following a handout of poses and breathing. There wasn't an explanation and everyone seemed VERY serious. It took me a while to step into another yoga studio. The next time I did I was in New York. My friend Camilla Maling called me up and said 'I think we've found a teacher'. This was the now famous Sadie Nardini. Her classes made sense to me. She taught about how to deal with life when it suuuucks, how to perceive life from a higher pov and as a byproduct I began to cultivate a much deeper connection to myself. She started to answer the really big questions in a very practical way. What advice can you give someone if they want to take their Yoga practice to a deeper level off the Yoga mat? So many things! Self observation is one of the main things I practice off the mat. I use self observation to bring unconscious behaviours to the surface so over time I stop repeating the same dumb mistakes! For example, self sabotage is a biggie that I would say everyone deals with ( eg procrastination, fear based action or inaction, negative thinking). So for example you feel scared and tend to avoid asking for the money you feel you deserve....next time you'll pay more attention and notice fear. What are you going to do with that energy? How will you transform it into fuel for personal growth? What is fear teaching you? Owning up to what we do out loud is a great tool. But it means we have to get good at being vulnerable. The shadow side of everything we most want is great vulnerability. In order to contribute in a big way to life, vulnerability is part and parcel. So if we engage with negative emotion rather than rise above it, we can see it all as a gift and a teacher. Is tantra all about sex? No! There are three branches of tantra (and within them many schools). One branch has a more sexual focus and ultimately it's still about spirituality. The philosophical side of Tantra is magical and so relevant for the modern yogi. It's less about detachment, transcendence or simplifying and more about engagement and participation in life. It teaches that everything is the divine expressing itself including you! Even your cup of coffee or glass of wine. It teaches that your connection to universal consciousness is found through your body, through nature and through the whole experience of embodiment including the human traits that don't make us proud. We can know the divine by knowing ourselves. Totally unrelated random question - what's one of your guilty pleasures you simply cannot give up? hehe. Well I would say I love wine! But as a Tantrika - I don't feel guilt, I'm just interested in my attachment as it ebbs and flows. When I do feel guilt around pleasure, I wonder about what part of myself I'm not allowing or rejecting instead of just owning up. Gosh, it's all so interesting! Let me also clarify Tantra is not about over indulging, I'm a real moderate by nature. I'm a pleasure seeker. I think if we all leaned into pleasure more often the world would be a more connected place! You can check out Olivia's blog here: http://www.courageousyogi.com/ Olivia will be presenting a workshop 'Living Yoga in the real world' at Breathe Wellbeing next Saturday 6th July. Check out the flyer below. http://breathewellbeing.com.au/ You can also check Olivia's 'Pleasure Ed' workshop this Sunday at The Yoga Lab http://theyogalab.com.au/ Camilla, from The Yoga Lab in East Brunswick will be hosting Noah for one weekend only! (so hurry up and book) I'll be heading up to Ubud/Bali (as Melbourne Yogis do in winter - just kidding.. this is my first time ... seriously) on that same weekend. I remember just a few months ago saying to a friend that I planned on following (stalking) him for a few years to learn all I could. Now he'll be in my town, and I won't. Must remember that limb, which one is it? The one that teaches us non attachment? I recently completed a teacher training with Noah and he opened my mind. He opened my mind to innovative sequencing, he opened my mind to the Bhagavad Gita. He taught me to to be direct and to take charge. He challenged all the Vedanta philosophy I had studied with just one question ... "What if this is enlightenment, right here, right now?". So, Melbourne Yogis, Sydney Yogis, AUSSIE Yogis I assure you you won't be disappointed if you attend this event. You'll even end up loving his sweet sounds on the harmonium (or not). Do you love a good hands on adjustment? Or, have you ever told a Yoga teacher you'de prefer it if they didn't touch you? Trust is something you earn over time and many of us are placed in quite a vulnerable situation when it comes to our health, fitness and wellbeing. Have you ever had a new instructor who you didn't know take you deeper into a pose with their 'not so gentle' and 'unfamiliar' hands and thought for a moment, "wait a minute, you don't know my body or my limitations"? Do we trust in the universe that the teachers standing before us are qualified Yoga teachers who have studied the human body, the poses they are teaching and 'hands on' adjusting? Then there's the media! Sowing more seeds of distrust. All this talk about Yoga injuries and dodgy Yoga teachers! Personally, I offer hands on adjustments in my classes. I touch my students all the time. I also tell the student before I do it and I ask them if it's alright. But I know many instructors don't do this. If I go to a Yoga class (and I do regularly), I don't freely offer my body up to the instructor saying "take it, my body is in your hands". I still have ownership of my body and all of it's crazy physical and mental 'issues'. If I'm feeling vulnerable and don't want to be touched, then I'll say so. But i know it's not that easy for some. For some of us, we sit at the back, don't want to be watched, don't want to be singled out and certainly don't want to be the one that says to the instructor "please don't adjust me today". Well, we thought there was no easy answer but maybe there is. Introducing the 'Yoga Flip Chip'. This chip (made of organic bamboo I assume) is placed on your mat and on one side it says 'assist' and on the other it says 'yoga your way'. It even comes in a cute little pouch. http://yogaflipchip.com/ Are we taking things too far? Can't an instructor simply start the class with "raise you hand if there's anything you need me to know, for example pregnancy, injury or no hands on adjustments for you today and I'll come and chat to you about it"? Is this chip taking the responsibility away from our wonderful Yoga instructors or is it making life easier for us all? |
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March 2019
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