Anusara Yoga Weekend with Desiree Rumbaugh

Last weekend an amazing group of 50 yoga teachers and dedicated practitioners from all over NZ gathered in Christchurch for a fantastic workshop with inspirational Anusara Yoga teacher, Desiree Rumbaugh.

(www.desireerumbaugh.com)

Besides a group of my regular and most enthusiastic students, all other participants were completely new to this style of yoga practice.

Over the three days, Desiree wove Anusara's heart-oriented, life-affirming philosophy and Universal Principles of Alignment powerfully into each yoga session.

With her dynamic, empowering, AND down-to-earth teachings, she urged each student towards a new experience of freedom, openness, strength, and trust in their bodies. Her partner, Andrew Rivin, offered gentle, clear, and insightful personal assistance throughout the workshop.

As an assistant for much of the weekend, I was inspired to see so many beautiful unfoldings taking place on AND off the yoga mat.

In the true spirit of KULA or community, we gathered on Saturday night to share a gorgeous meal prepared by Sruti, famed Ayurvedic vegetarian chef, at the serene YaYa House of Excellent Tea. It was a wonderful opportunity to share our ideas and impressions from the workshop and proved to be a great way for yoga teachers to forge new connections with each other and for all participants to meet other like minded, happy hearts!

After seeing the enthusiasm and excitement during Desiree's workshop, I'd like to invite and encourage more senior teachers to come out to the South Island. As I begin to look at the new year, I am newly inspired and dedicated to sharing the practice of Anusara Yoga here in New Zealand. Keep checking this space in 2008 for more local workshops and intensives, new classes, and int/adv. practice sessions!! Please contact me if you are interested in learning more about Anusara Yoga or arranging a workshop or class at your yoga studio.

I believe that the power and heart of Yoga lies first in our deepest intention to remember the goodness and beauty of our own true nature and then to honour this remembrance in open-hearted celebration and full participation in life!

THIS body, THIS yoga

Our own body is our best teacher. In the midst of injury, limitation or physical weakness, this is a difficult thing to remember! My life injuries have taught me more about my body, my emotional response to challenges and difficulties, and my ability to persevere with both faith and self-compassion, than any outside yoga teacher, yoga training, workshop, or book.

As a dedicated yoga teacher, I am diligently committed to ongoing training and continuing education. Each year, I travel overseas for a few weeks to study with my main teacher and with others on the path who inspire me. However, at the same time, what I offer in class is not just the result of any one specific training, memorized sequences, or alignment principles from a manual but it is the product of my OWN experience of being a body, mind, and spirit that practices this yoga every day.

And, every day, MY yoga changes. This body and its needs shift moment to moment. This week, I found in my practice a very troubled knee. My familiar and favorite postures, comfortable from years of dialogue with my body, of wearing into them gently like a favorite pair of shoes, were all of a sudden more of a struggle. Balancing postures on one leg, almost impossible! And, if the physical struggle wasn't enough, then the ego speaks: No time for this now Katie! You're hosting a workshop next week. Body needs to be in peak condition!! These inside voices are very hard to quiet.

I made a choice to back off my usual active yoga practice and spend some time in quiet contemplation with my breath. Letting my breath dissolve back into its natural, undisturbed, unambitious rhythm, I found that I was prepared to better listen to my body. And with this new body and new intention, I pulled out my "mental" toolbox of anatomy, alignment, and therapeutics techniques and went to back the drawing board. In sketching the shape of my practice anew not only was I able to find some relief for my knee but I was reminded again of the profound and precise healing capabilities of the Anusara alignment principles and the heart oriented, self-honouring approach to practice that I try to teach every day.

Within the beautiful flow, softness, release, and flexibility of yoga, there IS a quality of precision. Precision has two aspects. First, there is awareness. We survey the inner and outer landscape, opening our self up to what this moment (this body, this mind!) is offering. Second, there is clarity of intention. On a physical level, this involves setting the foundation of a pose in a way that will best open AND support the body and the heart. With awareness and clear intention, we can make the active choice to align our body in a way that better allows us to have an experience of freedom.

Many people think of yoga as a practice that involves only the manipulation of the physical body in various shapes and acrobatic flows. However, we must remember that this outer "shaping" and outer framework is there to support the opening and flow of the inner channels, the inner body. We don't practice yoga to tear our bodies apart. There must be integrity, cohesion, even the setting of boundaries and limits on movement in order to better and more deeply expand inwardly.

In life, many of us choose to commit ourselves to just one person. Most often, we share a physical living space with this person. And, by making this choice, we certainly limit our personal freedoms. It is no longer always an option to do what we want, when we want, with who we want. However, within the context of this limited cohesive relationship, we find inside a greater capacity for intimacy, abiding respect, deep friendship, deep trust, and persevering love.

May we joyfully embrace and celebrate the limits that come with this embodied experience of life! May we find on our yoga mats a way to explore with openness and curiosity those limitations of the body that naturally arise and those limits that we create for ourselves in search of better support for our expression! May we use precision in our practice to not only to heal and prevent injury but to always connect back to the clarity of our intention--to draw together rather than pull apart!

Inner Body Bright

As a lover of stars, fairylights, candles, lanterns, and anything that twinkles brightly, I have always been intrigued and inspired by the beautiful Indian celebration of Diwali or Deepavali, the Festival of Light. The Sanskrit word Deepavali can be defined as "an array [or row] of lights that stand for victory of brightness over darkness." During the five day celebration, people light earthenware lamps, decorate their homes with candles, and burst brightly coloured firecrackers at night.

Although the festival is marked with the lighting of external flame, the esoteric celebration of Diwali is the deep honouring of the inner light, known as the "atman". The part in each of us that is beyond the body, the part that is pure, infinite, and eternal. When we remember and celebrate this inner light, we awaken to our truest nature. We recognize that there IS something within us that is unchanging, always good, full of beauty, and ever present!

My main yoga teacher John Friend has always stressed two main reasons for practicing yoga. First, to remember our innermost spirit and our deep connection to the universal. What a practice this is itself ! How often do we walk through our day remembering this... and 2) to then fully participate in this life in a way that celebrates and honours our universal nature.

In my classes, I often use the term inner body bright to describe the soulful feeling of expansion, lift, and vitality that gives the heart a buoyant fullness. It is not something that can be felt by simply puffing out the chest, drawing the shoulders back, and lifting the chin. It is an inner remembrance of a deep truth--that we have something beautiful and worthy inside us to joyfully express, fully experience, and to share with others.

It is this remembrance that gives your backbends that awe-inspiring and painfree arc, that lifts your shoulders away from the earth in forearm balance, that floats your spine effortlessly skyward in Warrior II. And it is this remembrance of inner light that you see shining out from eyes of classmates and friends at the end of each yoga session.

Why bother practicing at all?

I think it is a fair assessment that most of us feel like we just don't have enough time in our lives these days. We struggle to balance obligations at work and home and wonder how and where best to fit in time for ourselves. Sometimes we believe that it isn't even possible!

Although many students rarely miss their weekly class, they tell me that finding the time, inspiration, and energy to practice at home very challenging. While acknowledging they feel more relaxed, more spacious, more positive, and really recharged after our yoga sessions, they struggle to carve out the time to make yoga practice a regular part of their day.

The beautiful thing about yoga is that you don't need to spend an hour and a half practicing each day in order to feel its benefits. Even a short practice of a few minutes--with a small selection of poses, mindful awareness of the breath, and a short relaxation--done regularly can shift your whole perspective, giving body and soul a boost!

I'd like to share this "practice parable" from A Flock of Fools: Ancient Buddhist Tales of Wisdom and Laughter From The One Hundred Parable Sutra (an English translation by Kazuaki Tanahashi and Peter Levitt).


PARABLE 1: WHY BOTHER PRACTICING AT ALL?

A man decided to go walking in the heat. He quickly became lost and dehydrated. He continued walking, and the more he walked, the worse he felt. Soon, he was so tired and dehydrated that he began to see mirages of water. He chased these mirages, desperate for relief. The more he chased the mirages, the worse he felt.

Miraculously, in his wanderings, he stumbled upon a real river. He sat at the river's edge, and looked at the water longingly. Another wanderer passed by, and asked the dehydrated and exhausted man why he did not drink from the river. "Clearly you are thirsty," he said. "Why don't you help yourself?"

The dehydrated and exhausted man said, "Oh, this river is far too much for me to drink. I could never finish it."


We don't need to drink the whole river in order to quench out thirst!! A little bit of practice that soothes and satisfies the soul serves us better than waiting until the "perfect" time, "perfect" body, or "perfect" inspiration presents itself.

The lotus blossoms from the mud

I recently had the opportunity to study the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali with Kausthub Desikachar in Wellington. Early in my yoga career, I was profoundly affected by his father's (TVK Desikachar) simple and brilliant work, The Heart of Yoga. This book is a beautiful introduction to the history, practice, and philosophy of yoga as taught by Krisnamacharya. Kausthub is Desikachar's son, grandson of Krishnamacharya, and an insightful, provocative, and jovial teacher of yoga in his own right. The workshop was a wonderful meeting of many passionate practitioners and teachers in New Zealand.

There were many insights that I took home but one in particular keeps resonating with my own experience of life: Yoga is a practice of choosing how best to respond. Often, we are not able to control the people, circumstances, situations, or even the emotions that arise to shape and affect our lives. However, through faith and continued practice, we CAN learn to see clearly with an open mind and heart-- actively choosing HOW best to respond to what arises.

According to the Sutras, yoga is a self-empowering process where we are given the option (and responsibility!) to take charge of our own happiness or suffering. In this model, as Kausthub offered, "life does not happen by chance, it happens by our own choice."

It is easy to suffer from the martyr syndrome, with the insistent "Why Me?" arising in the midst of crisis. I often struggle when I imagine or visualize the "perfect" practice and "perfect" life that I would like to have but look instead at the messiness, imperfection, and inconvenient emotions (indecision, anger, sadness) which might be the reality of my day.

What do you do when situations that arise in your daily life make the living of a spiritually connected life seem a far away dream?

My favorite sutra has always been 1.20 (here without proper Sanskrit pronunciation marks): shraddaviryasmrtisamadhiprajnapurvaka itaresam. According to Desikachar, this translates as, "Through faith, which will give sufficient energy to achieve success against all odds, direction will be maintained. The realization of the goal of Yoga is only a matter of time."

This sutra tells me that the "stuff" of our daily life is not at opposition with our yoga practice. In fact, this "stuff" of our lives becomes our practice! On the mat, we practice virtues like compassion in seated forward bends, courage in urdhva dhanurasana, trust in supta baddha konasana. BUT how more powerful to find the means to practice these same virtues in the midst of LIFE! In trying times with children, conflicts with the boss, or when faced with hurt or betrayal by a loved one.

Pema Chodron writes, "There isn't anything except your own life that can be used as ground for your spiritual practice. Spiritual practice IS your life, twenty-four hours a day."

The beautiful lotus blossoms out from the mud! Beauty arises up and out of the earth with such shape and fragrance and colour that we do not even notice the dirt underneath. Thank you Kausthub for the beautiful metaphor and gentle reminder!

A Path with Heart

I once read that, "we teach best what we most need to know". How often this statement rings true for me this year! How often does it ring for most of us?

Lately life has thrown me quite a few ups and downs. I am besieged by indecision. My emotions have been as dependable and as certain as our local Christchurch weather! And although I try to keep "going with the flow", this practice brings challenges much deeper and more trying than the garden variety handstand!

Looking at a calendar that is already planned through mid-December, I wonder where my year has gone. And, for me, this simple feeling of overwhelm leads to paralysis! I'll admit I am one of those annoying people who sits undecided at a good Thai restaurant...With extensive options and each so tempting, how can you decide which dish is just right? How do I make a sure and definite decision without regret?

Reading Jack Kornfield recently reminds me of something that I often stress to my students. "In undertaking this life, what matters is simple: We must make certain that our path is connected with our heart...Does what we are choosing reflect what we most deeply value?"

Discovering what we really value involves opening ourselves up to our heart with an honest and a genuine willingness to listen. What we hear may fly in the face of accumulated notions of who we think we are and who we think we should be. This honest listening requires real courage and a tender compassion for our own experience of living this life. Again and again, I encourage my students and friends to seek this path and it is one that I also find challenging to walk!

Kornfield shares a story from Don Juan (visionary and teacher of Carlos Castenada): "Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself alone one question. The question is one that only a very old man asks...Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good. If it doesn't, it is of no use."

May we all find the courage to choose and walk the path that truly touches and softens our heart.

Seize the Day!

As many of you know, I am hosting Desiree Rumbaugh (http://www.desireerumbaugh.com/) for an Anusara Weekend Workshop this December here in Christchurch. Desiree is a senior certified Anusara teacher and world renowned for her vibrant spirit and inspiring teachings! Her workshops and retreats aim at powerful personal transformation and self-expression, leading each student to celebrate their own greatness through the practice of yoga! If you've enjoyed your yoga journey thus far, I strongly encourage you to take this opportunity to study with a master yoga teacher.

In this weekend, you will experience the simplicity, strength, and fun of Anusara yoga. By aligning our body with nature and balancing effort and surrender in each pose, we consciously and steadily train our hearts and minds to help us have a more positive experience of each moment.

Find the full weekend schedule and link to more info on the sidebar to the right.

Freshness

In class last week, I kept returning to the theme of "beginners mind". For me, the season of Spring heralds not only a fresh beginning (and blessed end to the chill of winter) but also a fresh perspective. This sense of freshness is key I think to yoga as a lifelong practice. As a "yoga teacher", I am not immune to the feelings of stagnation, isolation, even boredom and depression that can arise when I sit on my mat and have to face the "stuff" inside. Not every day is instant inner peace... As I continue to practice yoga, an important and regular part of my practice is learning how to keep cultivating this freshness.

What do you think of when you hear the word fresh? For me, I immediately think of the lemon. Its clean, crisp scent. The light, playful taste that dances and zips across the tongue. How it lightens and transforms even the heaviest dish. I think also of the feel, smell, taste of the early morning air. Freshness has both a quality of spaciousness and also a clarity, or cleanness about it.

On the yoga mat, we can practice finding freshness every time we fully open to the breath--as it is--without expectation, without judgement. With each exhale, we release whatever isn't serving us so that the inhale arises naturally and easily, full of new possibility and potential. We can maintain our clarity, our intention to be present by connecting to our foundation and then softly engaging and hugging to our core. In each pose, we return to the breath, and as we move into and between each posture, we find the place where we feel a sense of spaciousness and freedom. Why choose to be anywhere else?

At the start OR end of your yoga practice, if you find your energy and spirits are still dragging, try lying for 5 to 10 minutes in a heart-opening, supported savasana. Fold a firm blanket in half and then half again, lengthwise. Sitting in front of the long end of your blanket, lay down on your back so that your whole spine is slightly lifted and supported all the way up to the back of the head. If you feel discomfort in the neck or shoulders, add another blanket to lift and support the head. Allow your arms and legs to fall open to the sides and the body to soften and sink into the earth with each exhalation. Without forcing or changing the breath, feel the inhalation expanding your side ribs, spreading and lifting your collarbones, and moving across fronts of the shoulders. Enjoy the feeling of lift and vastness in the heart, each exhale softening the body and mind more and more into your present moment.

Sacred Pause

I need to recover a rhythm in my heart that
moves my body first and my mind second;
that allows my soul to catch up with me.

I need to take a sacred pause,
as if I were a sun-warmed rock
in the centre of a rushing river.

Dawna Markova

Anusara: Awake and Celebrate!

When prospective students call me, the first thing they usually ask is what kind of yoga do you "do"? More specifically, they often want to know how I differentiate what I do from other teachers and other styles of yoga. I always struggle with how best or how well this question can be answered.

Hatha Yoga is the physical practice of yoga postures (asanas) and almost every yoga class being taught in the Western world (Anusara, Iyengar, Ashtanga, Bikram, etc.) IS a form of Hatha Yoga. In fact, most of the modern gurus who continue to inspire and inform the development of yoga today--BKS Iyengar, Sri Pattabis Jois, TVK Desikachar, AG Mohan--all had origins with the same teacher and same lineage, Sri Krishnamacharya.

With so many types of hatha yoga out there, it is easy to become confused about what kind is "best" or "true" or most "genuine". Just as we recognize there are many different religions and spiritual paths to best suit the cultural, geographical, and psychological natures of particular people, there are also many paths and approaches to yoga that will appeal differently to you.

"The best yoga practice can be defined as the one that WORKS." (Donna Farhi) For YOU--your unique structure, mind, heart.

I practice and teach hatha yoga that is guided and inspired by study with my yoga teacher John Friend (founder of Anusara yoga) and many other senior teachers in the Anusara tradition. I continue to study and teach this method because it resonates deep in my heart. At the same time, my practice also incorporates the work and wisdom of other brilliant teachers (of yoga and life) including Donna Farhi, TVK Desikachar, Judith Lasiter, and Chogyum Trungpa Rinpoche.

"Anusara is a hatha-yoga system that is based on a Tantric philosophy that sees the world as an embodiment of supreme consciousness, and that the essence of that is truly auspicious. There's an absolute goodness in the essence of all things and all people...The practice of Anusara helps us to gain a recognition, a deep understanding and a remembrance of this truth.

And so this practice is about awakening. Through our practice of yoga we learn skillful means of participating in and living our lives fully to bring greater happiness, greater health, and more beauty into the world."
John Friend

My intention is to teach yoga in a way that is dynamic, playful, supportive and FUN! Moving with the natural breath, we use the Anusara Universal Principles of Alignment as a means to unfold and reveal an expression of the inner spirit. Each posture becomes an opportunity to soulfully celebrate the heart. Every student's abilities and limitations are deeply respected and honoured. With the support of the kula, or community, we play deeply on our yoga mats to discover what IS possible in the present moment.

Self Unbounded

I've recently started reading a new book on Ayurveda, the Indian system of health and healing, often called the sister science of Yoga.

In her book, Absolute Beauty, Pratima Raichur gives a definition of beauty as "the experience of seeing/feeling the Self unbounded." I found this definition immediately resonated with me and I began thinking of times I'd recently been in the presence of "beauty". Hearing soulful music at the Arts Festival, re-reading one of my favorite Gary Snyder poems, watching the sunset over the Southern Alps. What was it exactly that made these experiences beautiful? The composition of sound, colour, texture, or light? All no doubt play a part. However, what I remembered most strongly wasn't anything external but how being in the presence of beauty made me FEEL inside....

A feeling of being bigger than myself. More vast, more free...and connected somehow to the larger flow of life.

In yoga, the essence of the Self is always unbounded. Always completely free and already completely full. It is known in Sanskrit as satchitananda--truth, consciousness, and bliss. As my teacher John Friend says, "There is no work to be done, nothing to be accomplished other than the true joy of existence itself!"

Yet, how often do we feel this way about our Self? It seems that part of our experience of being human is that we FORGET. We get cloaked, we have bad days, we argue with our partner, we hate our job, we're tired of winter. But these experiences, this forgetting, is not necessarily a bad thing. Because they allow us the bliss of getting to remember the beauty again. So we see the sunset, and we read the poem, and we kiss the loved one and we think....Oh, yeah!

On the mat as we move through our postures, we taste sachitananda in those moments when we experience the Self, OUR Self, completly unbounded. We must release the striving to achieve a "perfect" pose and the need to compete with the person practicing next to us. We can choose to occupy the space of freedom, the place that both opens and soothes, where we remember and celebrate the bigness inside. We can choose to practice in a way that reveals and enhances the beauty that is already present within us.

Afraid to Dance

Last night I went to see the Mamaku Project play in the Central City. Sitting in the erected marquee "tent", I was spellbound by the smooth, exotic, tribal, and downright lusty sound of the brilliant female singer and the musicians that accompanied her. An unusual but harmonious and perfect grouping of brass instruments, various percussion, and one very mischievious accordion!
Not usually shy when it comes to a boogie, I was surprised to find myself reluctant to get up and dance...

The marquee had been set up for "seated" viewing. Banquettes rimmed the outside walls and in the center circle, right in front of the stage, the entire wooden dance floor was covered over by table and chairs. Sitting, sipping sauvignon, and simply watching the soulful music was clearly expected. However, the music presented a real problem as it powerfully compelled you to MOVE YOUR BODY!

Yet, as I sat in my seat tapping my feet, moving my legs, and swinging my shoulders, some part of me felt embarrassed to have such a primal response to the sound. Near the end of the set, when body finally beat out mind, I went up to the front of the room and joined the group of renegade dancers. I wished I had been brave enough to be there all night.

Why was I so embarrassed at showing a clear, physical, and passionate response to the music? I looked around at all the people sitting and watching the vibrant display and wondered if they were feeling the same internal struggle...And where does it come from--this strong and frequent restraint of our basic body "being-ness"? Why did I want to curb or hide this desire to move that emerged from a deep, instinctive, and ancient place inside?

I made an internal resolution to never again, when music and sound compels, pass up on the opportunity to dance. To be proud to move my body to the same beat of the earth, the stars, the heart.

Reread a line from Mary Oliver before bed...."You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves..."

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

Mary Oliver

Like water to a duck?

Recently one of my students commented that Kiwis survive winter in Christchurch because of a healthy amount of hardy stoicism. A few hours later, I was sitting at YaYa with a fellow US expat who groaned as she exclaimed, "I wish I were a duck". Hmmmm...there IS a connection here!

During the past week of unrelenting rain and frigid temperatures, my friend had envied the ability of Christchurch bird life to frolic, eat, swim, and go about their daily business while seemingly unfazed by the heavy weather. There's a famous phrase I'm recalling..."Like water off a duck's back"? That night I looked up the definition of stoicism, finding "indifference to pleasure and pain". Reading that I wondered... does being "stoic" imply an inability to experience the difference between the two or that a choice is made to view both from the same/equal perspective? Perhaps two sides of the same coin?

Sensing positive material here, the Sanskrit word MAITRI floated out of my mental yoga glossary. Often translated as "friendliness", Pema Chodron (an American Buddhist nun and one of my favorite spiritual writers) describes MAITRI as, "complete acceptance of ourselves [and the environment around us]...a simple direct relationship with the way things actually are." The cultivation of MAITRI or friendliness is key staying present to where we actually are, in each particular moment.

Our culture has a very low tolerance for discomfort. We turn on, switch off, and tune out with any number of technological aids to avoid pain, cold, boredom, vulnerability, and loneliness. On the yoga mat, practicing MAITRI involves learning how to stay with physical sensation and stay within the free movement of breath as we skillfully play our edge. We have the option to blast past our capacity, shrink from possibility, OR explore the area where our past experience meets a new horizon. When we cultivate an attitude of "friendliness" toward our body, our thoughts, and our environment, nothing that emerges is the enemy. We practice remaining open and receptive to whatever the moment brings.

Pema writes that the practice of MAITRI is "coming back to the immediacy of experience...By simply STAYING, we relax more and more into the open dimension of our being." Off our yoga mat, we practice "staying" when we can remain open and soft at our center even while the world around is shifting and changing--workplace chaos, screaming children, difficult relationships, and yes--even the enduring rain and bone chilling cold of July in Christchurch.

While the water may not so easily "run off our backs", we CAN practice accessing the same quality of acceptance, receptivity, AND endurance of the moment as our friendly local ducks. No matter what the weather or life throws at us!

Here comes the Sun!

After our weeklong bout of dreary, drippy and dismal weather, it is no surprise that the theme of my classes this week is INSPIRATION. As the sun begins to peek its way back into the sky, I find that my spirits and energy are magically renewed!

As an editor in a former life, I am captivated by words. Words are ripe with meaning and carry a special sort of energy, called matrika shakti in yoga. Language lends us beautiful, rich texture by which to make sense of experience.

The word INSPIRATION comes from the Latin root "spirare" which means "to breathe". "Spirare" is also the source of our English word SPIRIT. "IN-spirare" means "to breathe IN" or to "infuse by breathing". Therefore, "Inspire" is another word for "inhale", "inspiration" for "inhalation". Every time we draw breath, we "inspire" our physical form. What happens when you inhale fully? I notice my heart lifts, my shoulders roll back, my spine lengthens. My inner body is bright.

"Inspiration" is also an experience or state of being. Please PAUSE and think of something or someone that is inspiring your life right now. How does this thing or person make you feel on the inside? What happens when you see a beautiful, resplendent sunrise? Or watch someone close to you succeed in school, work, sports? What happens to YOUR body in the presence of or remembrance of inspiration...? Heart lifts, shoulders open, spine lengthens, inner body bright!

At a recent training with John Friend, he described the body as an instrument, like a flute. Each asana, each posture or form that we take, is another way to place the fingers, another way to direct the sound. Every posture makes music but each has its own particular note.

On our mats, we "inspire" the body with breath and, as our external form shifts and changes, this "inspiration" infuses each posture and the inner body with lift and life. When we sit to begin our practice, we can pause and remember all the things, people, and moments in our life that inspire us and lift our hearts. We all have dark days but even when the skies are gray, we can REMEMBER that the sun will eventually shine again.

[Please click on comments below to find links about my favorite posture of INSPIRATION, Vasisthasana!]

Warm winter yoga

We are holding two yoga nights at YaYa House of Tea this month--July 15th & July 29th. Yoga begins at 5:30pm and we follow the practice with warm cups of YaYa's homemade chai and fresh chapati breads. The night is the perfect winter soother and a lovely way to start the week!

What I've grown to love about these evenings is the strong sense of community that emerges. In the afterglow of yoga and in the cozy ambiance of the teahouse, I have met many wonderful people and have so enjoyed the great conversations taking place between local Christchurch people who have just met. Though we often come from different age groups and backgrounds, we practice together, we talk together and then often, at another class or on the street, we will meet again. Connection is made and remembered. In Anusara Yoga, a strong emphasis is placed on the gathering and sustaining of kula--a Sanskrit word meaning "the community of the heart".

Though the weather continues to grow colder, the monthly gatherings at YaYa and our regular weekly classes continue to warm my soul! I love being part of the beautiful kula growing in Christchurch. So well stated by the wonderful Sufi poet Rumi:

"There IS a community of the spirit. Join it, and feel the delight of walking in the noisy street and BEING the noise..."

Let Your Instrument be an Expression of Your Gift

This past week I saw Paul Urbana Jones play guitar and sing the blues at Fat Eddie's in SOL square. As I watched his performance, I was blown away by his honest and tender lyrics, the raw passion of his voice, and the zeal of his guitar. His entire body participated in the creation of his music--the tap of a toe, his fingers racing on the strings, a wild shake of his head, even the small movements of his eyes...

There was no way to tell where the guitar ended and his body began. Everything was part of the same expression. I thought to myself, WOW... THIS guy should be teaching yoga!

Paul's full body, full being expression is exactly what we aspire to on our yoga mats. Anusara Yoga comes from a Tantric yoga philosophy that operates on the premise of intrinsic goodness. What this means is that we believe that this embodied life is a GOOD and a BEAUTIFUL thing. On the mat, we can remember that each breath and every posture is an opportunity to delightfully dance with a bigger Energy, participate more fully in life, and to express the beauty of our hearts.

While we may not be a musician, talented painter, or a skilled writer, each one of us DOES have an instrument at our fingertips. We can allow our instrument--our own unique physical body--to be an expression of our inner spirit. Our instrument can be an expression of beauty, an expression of the best we have to offer in each moment When we practice in this way, yoga becomes more than physical exercise. Yoga becomes the process of creating art!

Nourish the Body, Feed the Soul

With the arrival of colder temperatures, the major theme that keeps emerging on and off my yoga mat, has been nourishment. I am simply craving continual warmth, comfort, and nurturing. More sleep. Warmer, wholesome, homemade foods. Deeper, more inward-focused yoga practices. Even more alone time, just to reflect on all that's happened so far this year. It has been interesting to note that as these needs arise, there has also been this persistent reluctance on my part to really honour them.

Why is it difficult to give ourselves what we know that we need? Why does the thought of "slowing down" sometimes provoke anxiety or irritation?

In many parts of the world, winter is the season of "hibernation". Each year, the natural world--trees, plants, flowers, animals--move away from bountiful summer expressions and draw their energies inwards. More of our time is spent in darkness; more of our day is spent inside.

This hibernation, this darkness is not a bad thing. Seeds germinate under the darkness of the soil, babies grow and develop in the darkness of the mother's womb. It is in sleep that we rejuvenate, literally rebuilding our bodies every night. This "darkness" holds vast amounts of potentiality, of creative power, of revelation, hints of things to be soon realized.

So, my aim is to enjoy the darkness this year! To make friends with my lower energy levels and my need for more sleep. To really honour the desire for self-reflection and continual comfort and support.

I invite you this season to take the time to listen to your body and heart. Ask yourself, what do I need? What would truly support me during this darker time of year? Then, be open enough to hear the answers. Do something everyday that nourishes your body, do something that truly feeds your soul!

Why Practice Yoga?

Hatha Yoga is an ancient practice that brings body, mind, heart, and spirit into union. Yoga systematically stretches and strengthens all muscles throughout the body, increases circulation to organs and glands, quiets the nervous system, and improves concentration. This timeless system of self-care is an effective technique for developing a healthy body, a vibrant spirit, a sense of peace, and an appreciation for the wholeness of who you are.

By connecting outer body movement to an inner intention, the most basic yoga postures can be vehicles for deep physical and mental transformation!

Here is an *amended* list, from Yoga Alliance, of their "Top Ten" reasons for practicing yoga. We all come to yoga for different reasons at different times; there is no right or wrong reason!

1) Stress Relief- Yoga reduces the physical effects of stress on the body by encouraging relaxation and lowering the levels of the stress hormone, cortisol. Additionally, yoga lowers blood pressure and heart rate, improves digestion, boosts the immune system, and eases symptoms of conditions such as anxiety, depression, fatigue, asthma, and insomnia.

2) Flexibility- Yoga helps to increase general flexibility and mobility, increasing range of movement and reducing aches and pains.

3) Increased Strength- Yoga asanas (postures) use every muscle in the body, helping to increase strength literally from head to toe! Yoga can also help release chronic muscular tension.

4) Better Breathing- Yoga teaches you how to take slower, deeper breaths. This helps to improve lung function and trigger the body's relaxation response.

5) Body Awareness & Balance-Yoga is about connecting to your body. You will learn how to become aware of what you are feeling and how you are feeling in any given moment. A keener awareness for optimal body alignment results in better posture and helps relieve back, neck, joint, and muscle pain.

6) Improved Circulation- Yoga helps to improve overall circulation and, moving through a wide variety of asanas, oxygenated blood moves more efficiently through the body.

7) Weight Management- Yoga (even Gentle styles) can aid weight control efforts by reducing cortisol levels, as well as burning excess calories and reducing stress. Yoga also encourages healthy eating and a healthy outlook on life.

8) Cardiovascular Conditioning- Even gentle yoga practice provide benefits for your heart by lowering resting heart rate, increasing stamina and endurance, and improving oxygen uptake during exercise.

9) Focus on the Present- Yoga helps us focus on the fullness of our present experience, each moment, each breath. In our chaotic busy lives, we are often "living" ten steps ahead of where we really are. Through the practice of yoga, we come back to the richness and beauty of each moment as it happens. Yoga also helps improve concentration, coordination, reaction time, and memory.

10) Peace- The meditative aspects of yoga help you connect to your spirit and reach a deeper, more satisfying place in your life. Many of us start yoga to "touch our toes", build strength, or stand on our hands. However, we often find that it is the moments of connection and peace that we experience through the practice that keep us coming back to our mats.

Anusara Yoga in Vanity Fair Magazine

Vanity Fair Magazine recently featured John Friend (founder of Anusara Yoga) as one of the "world's greatest yoga masters"! John joins the company of other well-respected teachers including TVK Desikachar, B.K.S. Iyengar, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, and others.

Check out his photo here http://www.anusara.com/anusara/Images/articles/JF-VanityFair-June07.jpg

John's yoga posture is clearly impressive! However it's not just the physical form of the pose that is so compelling but rather how he expresses through his pose a feeling of freedom, courage, and steadiness in the midst of a bigger Flow.

It doesn't matter whether we are beginners or advanced yogis. In any yoga posture, each one of us has the same opportunity to embody and express the deepest qualities of our hearts.

"In Anusara yoga, it is the heart quality, the feeling (bhava) that is the source of the energetic expression of the pose. Without pure expression from the heart, a "pose" loses its power for deep inner transformation." JF

On the yoga mat, we can choose make each pose an offering of the best of ourselves. How do we want to participate in this present moment? What is the quality of our offering? When we choose to move from the heart--when we connect to and express what touches our soul--our postures [and our day-to-day life!] sing with a beautiful inner music.

About Anusara Yoga

Anusara is a heart-oriented, extremely therapeutic, and powerfully transformative style of Hatha Yoga. Developed by master teacher (the internationally renowned and seriously playful!) John Friend, it is one of the fastest growing styles of yoga in the world.

The word Anusara means "flowing with Grace", also understood as "to go with the Flow, "step into the current of Nature", or "follow your heart". Working with Universal Principles of Alignment, this practice powerfully blends healing biomechanics and balanced energetic action with a soulful celebration of the heart! Anusara stems from a Tantric yoga philosophy which reminds us that we are always connected to a bigger energy and encourages us to embody our intentions in a way that celebrates and expresses the beauty of life and our own individual natures.

I teach Anusara-inspired Hatha Yoga in many locations throughout Christchurch, New Zealand. My classes are dynamic, playful, light-hearted, and supportive. I believe that yoga is a practice that can open our hearts and reveal what IS possible to us in every moment.

To read more about Anusara and my teacher John Friend, go to www.anusara.com or google Anusara. There is heaps of info out there!

Welcome to Yoga Kula NZ

Hello!

Welcome to my yoga blog--your home base to stay up to date on the classes, workshops, and special events that I'm teaching around town. As the blog gets going, I plan to post my class themes for the week, sharing with you whatever is inspiring me--my life, my practice, my teaching. I'd like to post articles, yoga links, and share information on local and international events. My hope is that you will share too! I invite your comments on all posts, feedback on classes and events, questions for me and for each other.

KULA is a Sanskrit word that means "community of the heart". Since my very first class, the practice of yoga for me has been about connection. I hope that this blog will be a way to foster communication, connection, and community in our practice of yoga and of LIFE. No matter where in the world we live, practice, work, love, teach...it is only a short distance between like minds and hearts.

More soon!
Namaste,
Katie