Yes, Virginia, There IS Yoga Through the Holidays!

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Photo 61Over the next two weeks, when I’m not teaching, I’ll be retreating to my Mimm Cave. I’ll be doing all those things I didn’t have time to do during the previous fifty weeks: reading for leisure, playing my guitar, waking up my creative side. I love the Mimm Cave.

But I love to teach, too! Here’s my schedule for the rest of the year:

Saturday 21 & 28 December

4:00 – 5:30 PM Samyama Yoga Center

Monday 23 & 30 December

7:30 – 9:00 PM California Yoga Center, Yin (donation based)

Tuesday 24 & 31 December

9:00 – 10:00 AM California Yoga Center

(Samyama Yoga Studio closed both days)

Thursday 26 December & 2 January

7:00 – 8:15 AM Samyama Yoga Center

9:30 – 11:00 AM Samyama Yoga Center (subbing for Hillary Easom on January 2nd only)

Friday 27 December & 3 January

9:00 – 10:00 AM California Yoga Center

1:30- 2:45 PM Samyama Yoga Center, Yin

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Whack-a-Doodle Time

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Did you notice? I did. Today was the day I felt things going a bit whack-a-doodle. Not that I mind, of course – ’tis the season, after all. But with the whack-a-doodle season come a few whack-a-doodle schedule changes.

 Here’s what’s happening over the next few weeks:

My classes at California Yoga Center will continue uninterrupted through the end of the year. You can join me on Monday evenings for Yin Yoga from 7:30 to 9:00. I also teach Hatha on Tuesday and Friday mornings from 9:00 to 10:00. Check CYC’s website for more details.

Samyama Yoga Center is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. That means my 7:00 AM classes on November 28th, December 24th and December 31st will not be held. But you are welcome to join me and the rest of the early bird yogis at dawn on every other Tuesday and Thursday! If you prefer to sleep in, I teach a Level I/II Hatha “slow flow” class at Samyama on Saturdays from 4:00 to 5:30. That class will continue uninterrupted through out the holidays as will my Friday afternoon Yin class.

While everyone else is traveling over the river and through the woods, I’ll be subbing at Samyama for those teachers who have family to visit, marathons to run and workshops to attend. Please join me on these days:

Friday 29th November at 4:00 PM for Slow Flow

Sunday 1st December at 10:30 AM for Yin Influenced Flow

Monday 9th December at 7:00 AM for Shakti Reset

Wednesday 11th December at 7:00 AM for Shakti Reset

Thursday 2nd January at 9:30 for Slow Flow

Sunday 5th January at 10:30 for Yin Influenced Flow

(after that I’ll be ready for some subs of my own!)

 

Finally, classes at Avenidas Senior Center are on holiday break. They will resume the week of January 6th. You can register for the winter quarter online by visiting the website or by visiting them in person. I teach Hatha Yoga on Mondays from 1:00 to 2:00 and Chair Yoga on Fridays from 10:30 to 11:30.

 

May we be filled with gratitude for gifts received and find joy in the giving. May our winter be filled with warmth, love and comfort…..and yoga!

 

 

 

Room to Breathe

IMG_2289Room to breathe.

If I took a moment to deconstruct my teaching technique, that’s what it would amount to. My goal is to give you room to breathe. Room to breathe into your body, into your heart, into the space around you.

Because we fill our lives to the brim.

My fundraising project, A Woman’s Face, ended with its book launch on Saturday, the 2nd of November. The next day, there I was: a woman looking at a life that had some space around it. Finally, I had room to breathe. The problem is that space doesn’t always embrace its emptiness. A vacuüm longs to be filled. And when the universe provides our waking, working lives with a bit of room we love nothing more than to set goals and maximize production.

The gift of time and space is like that long, silent gap in the middle of a conversation. It makes some folks uncomfortable.

But not me. There’s nothing I enjoy more than a bit of space and some longed for silence.

And that’s what you’ll find in my classes. Space and silence. Room to breathe. Room to grow.

Because we’re trained to crave achievement, and because achievement implies hard work and pain, my classes might create a sense of unease at first. They might feel too easy. Too gentle. I have been that person who believed that if I didn’t feel a hurt, a pull, a sharp tug – then I wasn’t feeling at all. I have been that person who loved being yanked more deeply into the asana until injury finally forced the futility of the approach. But when we slow down and trust our body and our breath and give ourselves the space to experience the asana we gain a new perspective. Asana practice is about the body. We know that.

But it is also about our Self.

We are meant to move forward in our yoga practice. Our yoga practice. What does that mean to you? Why don’t you give yourself the room you need to find the answer?

I teach Hatha Yoga at Samyama Yoga Center, where the first class is free, on Tuesday and Thursday from 7:00 to 8:15 AM and on Saturday from 4:00 to 5:30. I teach Yin there, too, on Friday afternoon from 1:30 to 2:45.

I teach Hatha Yoga at California Yoga Center, the studio where I began my beloved yoga practice in 1984. My classes at CYC are on Tuesday and Friday from 9:00 to 10:00. I teach Yin there, too, on Monday evenings from 7:30 to 9:00.

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There’s More than One Road to Travel

The Patanjali mural at Samyama Yoga Center in Palo Alto

The Patanjali mural at Samyama Yoga Center in Palo Alto

I sat in sukhasana for the first time in Mrs. Carey’s gym class. It was 1975 and I was a junior at Northwestern Lehigh High School. I didn’t know it was sukhasana. For that matter, neither did Mrs. Carey. Most of my classmates sat slumped, legs crossed. But I was in sukhasana. I didn’t know it. I could feel it.

It was ten years before I sat in sukhasana again.

It’s wrong to call the path I’ve walked for most of the past three decades a ‘yoga journey‘. If I’m to be truthful, it has been an ‘asana journey‘. Asana. Asana. Asana. For years I collected asanas like some people collect stamps. And why not? It was fun. I was young. And no one taught me any different. They may have tried, but I wasn’t listening.

I knew I was taking the ‘scenic route’. I knew there was more to yoga than asana. I craved something more – I was hungry for it – but I didn’t know where to begin.

I had the texts to prove it: the Gita and Upanishads, Patanjali and the Pradipika. I had books from teachers who brought yoga to the West. For a time I carried Iyengar‘s Light on Yoga with me as if it was the Holy Grail. I was a yoga poser. I was proving that what my teachers back at Northwestern said about me (“she’s a bright girl but she doesn’t apply herself”) was true.

Maybe I wasn’t ready. Maybe it’s true that the universe conspires to open your heart only when you’re ready to receive. I’m ready. Patanjali, my heart is open. Teach me.

Chapter 1

Samadhi Pada

1.1 Here begins the authoritative instruction on Yoga.

1.2 Yoga is the ability to direct the mind exclusively toward an object and sustain that direction without any distractions.

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California, Here I Come!

Mount Rushmore

Mount Rushmore (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’m sitting in the lobby of the Rushmore Holiday Inn, downtown Rapid City, South Dakota waiting for the shuttle that will take me to the airport and toward my journey home. The first ever Yoga Therapy Summit was more than I hoped for. Educational, inspiring, motivating and more. So much more. I have much to process and much to contemplate. I’m almost overwhelmed by the possibility and the potential and very, very humbled by how little I know and how much there is to learn.

I’m grateful for these three days and grateful to be returning to my regular teaching schedule on Tuesday the 17th:

Monday the 16th – This afternoon’s 1:00 class at Avenidas will be taught by Carla Wittenberg. My 7:30 Yin class at California Yoga Center will be taught by Nicole Wargo.

I’ll be back on the mat for these classes:

Tuesday the 17th:

9:00 California Yoga Center

4:00 Samyama Yoga Center (I’m subbing for Louis’s class)

Friday the 20th:

9:00 California Yoga Center

10:30 Avenidas

1:30 Samyama Yoga Center (Yin)

Saturday the 21st:

4:00 Samyama Yoga Center

And don’t forget! We’re relaunching our morning classes at Samyama next week.

I’ll be teaching on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 7:00 to 8:15. YAY!!!  

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Don’t You Just Love that New Car Smell???

CIMG2291Yes, it is a weird title to a blog post about yoga. But I’m celebrating the purchase of a new car. No – not mine. I’ve happily paid off my Honda and intend to drive it into the ground. Let’s just say a friend who’s very closely associated with Samyama Yoga Center recently traded in his rockin’ sports car for…a luxury sedan. OH, but what a luxury sedan. I had the pleasure of being chauffeur driven the 200 yards from Philz to Samyama yesterday. Sweet ride.

Speaking of sweet rides and Samyama – I’ve exciting news! Morning classes are coming back. My summer hiatus was an opportunity to regroup and refuel and I’m making my return to mornings on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7:00 to 8:15 beginning September 24th.

You’ll notice the class is shorter – seventy five minutes is a perfect morning practice. But there’s one other change, too.

Choice.

How we choose to carry ourselves from Point A to Point B is never the same. Some days we feel like flying down the freeway in our neon detailed leathers strapped around a BMW S1000 and some days we prefer a business suit and the coolly appointed comfort of a sedan. And so it is with yoga. On some mornings we crave music and vigorous movement. Some mornings it’s all about the silent slow flow.

Sharing the mornings with me will be Amy Rogg. You can get your Vinyasa on with her in the main studio while those of us who enjoy embracing the day with gentle introspection will cocoon ourselves in the practice studio.

Guests joining us in the mornings will have the choice of choosing the practice that best suits their needs on that particular morning.

I look forward to waking up with you!

Class Schedule Updates:

I’m away to the Yoga Therapy Summit in Rapid City, South Dakota this coming weekend and so there will be a few friends stepping in to lead my classes:

Friday 13 September: Lisa will be teaching my 9 AM class at California Yoga Center. Nicole will step in for my 11:30 class at Avenidas and Carla will teach my 1:30 Yin class at Samyama.

Saturday 14 September: Bethany will teach my 4 PM class at Samyama. (I accidentally began a vicious rumour that this afternoon class was going to be moving to 8:30 AM. I spoke too soon. We decided 4 PM was just perfect. We’re not going anywhere.)

Monday 15 September: The 1 PM class at Avenidas will be taught by Carla. My 7:30 Yin class at California Yoga Center will be cancelled this evening. We’ll resume again on the 23rd.

Visit my page to view my full class schedule.

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Introducing Samyama Yoga Center’s Body Therapists

Samyama Yoga Center‘s home is a sleek modern building at 2995 Middlefield Road. From the outside, its strong lines and clean façade anchor the building to the earth while creating a sense of weightlessness. Once inside, the clarity of the light in the downstairs retail area welcomes and warms the heart of every guest. Upstairs, in the main practice studio, the diffused light is filtered through tall, translucent windows made to appear like Shoji screens. Shadows from the outside architecture draw soft grey lines across the glass and continue the effect. The white walls are a surprise but they are not harsh. Rather, they blur the edges of space to the point that the yogi feels as if she is floating. The room’s name, Ascension, is apt. Time, space and perspective seem different in that studio. And, over the months since we’ve first opened our doors, the room has become infused with Patanjali‘s energy and spirit.

sam roomWhen John Berg’s vision of Samyama became a reality, however, it included more than one opportunity to blur space and time. Downstairs, just around the corner from the lounge, there is a warm and inviting therapy room. Perfectly appointed for the comfort of the client, this soulful space is home to two of the Bay Area’s most innovative and gifted body therapists: Devin Begley and Joanne Brohmer:

Devin BegleyDevin

I was born on a sunny day in Santa Cruz California. At a young age I began practicing massage and studied with my fathers therapist so I could continue his healing at home. Growing up I was always encouraged to explore music and creative expression. I auditioned and was accepted into the bachelor of fine arts in acting program at USC. While undergoing rigorous movement, vocal and emotional training, I began to understand the resonant, visceral connection between body and mind. I enrolled at the Institute of Psycho-Sturctural Balancing in Santa Monica, where I adopted multiple modalities and a greater curiosity for vibration and energy. I started studying meditation, yoga, tai chi, sounding and cymatic theory. After moving back to the Bay Area I continued my training at the Accupressure Institute in Berkeley.

What I offer is resonance.

A return to sound via auditory stimulation and felt vibration. You will enter an altered state of awareness using a mixture of breath work, sounding, tibetan bowls, tuning forks and a gong bath. The mind will be entrained to a meditative state where hypnogogic subconscious connection can be made. The body will experience increased awareness, physical and emotional release, movement of energy, nitric oxide production, and sublime relaxation. Like yoga, lines of connection will be made as your natural healing ability is triggered and the mind/body unites with vibration.

This is a unique personal experience and how the session is orchestrated is dependent on the subject.

Image 2Joanne Brohmer

Being perpetually curious about the very core of life. I have always been one to dive deeply into the mystery of things and even once I have found an answer, I ache to go even deeper. Being a seeker of pure connection to source, my own eternal essence and the merging nature of spirit, my love drives me to help others encounter their souls, their inherent connection to nature and the flow of innocence that lives inside them. Using a combination of Reiki, CranioSacral Therapy and guided imagery a healing session can not only be deeply relaxing but a journey where you are an active participant in deeply releasing what you are ready for and creating a greater sense of alignment with your natural state of being.

I took my first Reiki class in Palo Alto 11 years ago and attained my Reiki II and Master certification within the following two years. I found that receiving the attunements alone started me on a rapid healing process and an ever-expanding spiritual journey. I have been a practitioner for 9 years now and have been teaching Reiki for 6 years. Integrated Energy Therapy, CranioSacral Therapy and intuitive reading are also powerful methods that I was led to learn and further help people to dig deep into their healing process and experience their full being and all the things that get in the way of experiencing to the fullest. I traveled to India in December of 2006 where I became a certified yoga teacher. I have studied and practiced methods of meditation and visualization techniques for the last 9 years and have found them to be powerful tools along my path. I became a certified Family Constellation Facilitator in August of 2010. I have discovered some of the deepest sources of my own personal wounding through constellations and am excited to be able to offer this chance for healing to others. I am here to wake up, love and help others wake up to their full human potential and move beyond the ego’s limitations.

About the modalities:

Reiki: Reiki is a gentle ancient healing technique that involves light touch and can also be done over distances. Since it heals the source of the condition, healing on many levels can be experienced. Reiki works to remove blocks, balance energies and restore natural patterns so the body may begin to heal itself.

CranioSacral Therapy: CST is a gentle, hands-on method of evaluating and enhancing the craniosacral system – comprised of the membranes and cerebrospinal fluid that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord. Using a soft touch with about the weight of a nickel, practitioners release restrictions in the craniosacral system to improve the functioning of the central nervous system. This method has the possibility of releasing deep traumas that have manifested in the body.

Appointments with Devin and Joanne can be made by ringing Samyama Yoga Center at 650-320-9262.

Subbing Season is Early This Year

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I’m helping out a few friends over the next few weeks by teaching their classes while they:

  1. attend a wedding
  2. take an unexpected business trip
  3. recover from an injury

And so, in addition to my regular studio schedule…

  • Monday Evening Yin at California Yoga Center/Palo Alto from 7:30 to 9:00
  • Tuesday Morning Flow at Samyama from 7:00 to 9:00
  • Tuesday Morning Iyengar at California Yoga Center/Palo Alto from 9:00 to 10:00
  • Thursday Morning Flow at Samyama from 7:00 to 9:00
  • Friday Morning Iyengar at California Yoga Center/Palo Alto from 9:00 to 10:00
  • Friday Afternoon Yin at Samyama from 1:30 to 2:45
  • Saturday Afternoon Flow at Samyama from 4:00 to 5:30

…I’ll also be teaching these classes:

Saturday, June 8:

8:30 – 10:00 AM at Samyama for Bethany

12:30 – 1:30 PM at California Yoga Center/Palo Alto for Candy

Monday, June 10:

7:00 – 8:30 AM at Samyama for Bethany

Wednesday, June 12:

7:00 – 8:30 AM at Samyama for Bethany

11:30 – 1:00 PM at Samyama for Amy

Saturday, June 15:

8:30 – 10:00 AM at Samyama for Bethany

Sunday, June 30:

8:30 – 10:00 AM at Samyama for Clive

Wow! I’m going to be one busy yoga dog! I better stock up on Scooby snacks!

Looking forward to sharing our yoga journey.

Sit. Stand. Breathe. Live.

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yoga

Sometimes we forget. We forget we’re not teaching yoga. We are teaching asana. And we forget Patanjali’s teachings: that asana is just one of the eight limbs. Most classes called yoga focus their intention on asana. Pranayama receives a cursory mention. The other six limbs – yama, niyama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi – are left dangling in the breeze of our ujjiay breath.

I think that as asana teachers we find ourselves caught in trends. From practicing postures on paddle boards to holding shapes in slings, fitness trends are fine but they are like rainbows. Beautiful, fun and illusory. As fast as one trend disappears another arcs across to fill the sky – or the yoga industry – with light and color.

I’ll be honest. There’s a part of me that would love to be that teacher who enthusiastically embraces every trend and explores its possibility. But you won’t find me practicing asana on a paddle board – even though it looks like fun. And you won’t find me hanging in a sling or holding dhanurasana while balanced on the soles of my partner’s feet.

More than anything I would like to begin a new trend. I want to begin the trend that sees asana teachers coming back home to yoga. I want those of us who call ourselves yoga teachers – including me – to be yoga teachers.

A few nights ago I attended a class. A yoga class. You read that right. Not an asana class. A yoga class.

When I told fellow teachers and friends I was going to John Berg’s Intro to Yoga class on Tuesday night at Samyama they looked at me a bit funny. “Don’t you mean his Vinyasa class?” Nope. I meant what I said. After thirty years of practice and nineteen years of teaching I was a beginner. And, as a beginner, I wanted a beginner’s class.

In ninety minutes we sat, we stood, we practiced vrkasana, we breathed. In between we reviewed the eight limbs. We listened to a brief talk on yama and niyama. We spoke of intention. And forgiveness. I spent that hour and one half in a state of moving meditation, grateful to John and his teaching but equally grateful that I followed my heart through the studio doors of Samyama.

I believe, as teachers and as students, there are times for expansion. Times when focus on heat building asana is the right path. But I also believe that we abandon ourselves when we fail to listen for the quiet times. The times when we need to step back – contract –  and remember that as much as yoga is about the body, it is about so much more.

Teaching Your Truth

yoga

Saturday afternoon proved interesting. I suppose it began with a FB post I read from a well-known local teacher. He was thrilled that his morning class had them hanging from the ceiling. That’s cool. We all love a full class. But as I scrolled through the comments to read what students were saying one comment caught my eye: “great play list.”

My reaction was visceral. My teeth clenched and my eyebrows furrowed.Damn. When did yoga teachers become dj’s?

Over the past few weeks I’ve been feeling overworked and overextended which means I’m also feeling vulnerable. And so such things – like a great playlist being the reason why a yoga class is full – has me doubting myself.

My unwarranted self-doubt nevertheless has an impact. It pokes at my confidence and makes me question how I teach and even why I teach.

Taking a jab at my confidence doesn’t feel so wonderful. But questioning why and how I teach? That’s a good thing. We should always question our teaching. And we should always teach our truth.

I’m not averse to using music in class. In fact, at Samyama, where the sound system is so gorgeous it’s almost a sin to not use music, I play a mix of Tibetan bells, Robert Fripp and Brian Eno. It’s airy but not new-agey and I keep the volume at about the level of sun-dried laundry – not ear bleeding heady perfume.

Our lives are bombarded by sensory stimuli. During my practice, and while I teach, I want to remove the distractions. I want to connect with my body. I want to feel the asana in me. I want to breathe into it, and I want the rhythm of my breath to connect with the expansion and contraction of my body’s tide. I want to breathe with my muscles, my bones, my fascia. I want to feel the course of cerebral spinal fluid from my crown to my root.

I can’t do that if I’m grooving to Roxy Music.

But I doubted all this yesterday. I spent two hours making a play list. And it was a good play list. Maybe even a great one.  Until I accidentally deleted it while attempting to download it to my iPod.

I took that as a sign that the Universe supports my truth. A friend suggested it was a sign I should learn how to use my iPod.  The point is, my truth may not be your truth.  And it may not always be my truth.

But for now it is.

And so, until further notice, my classes will continue to be silent, slow and focused.

And when we leave the studio to plug back into the world, we won’t be talking about play lists. I hope we won’t be talking much at all because we’ll still be taking in the silence and the wonder of feeling our bodies and our breath connected.