Author: Kay T. Ananda

Yoga brings Joy!
Joy to your body, heart, soul and allows your mind to settle all the debris to the bottom of the lake, ripples gently subsides so that like that shining water, your lake in your mind is still and crystal clear. Only then, you can find your truth... when your mind clears and all distractions are gone, leaving you - stillness and clarity. Peace.
Dog is doing yoga all the time and brings you laughs!
Anger is borne out of fear; how do we find that fearless path of inner peace?
Why Bark when you can Wag to express your JOY Joy joy !!!???
無心でしっぽをふる喜びを表すあの子犬のようなJOYを糧に無理ない、各自のコンデイションに寄り添いながらもチャレンジ精神をとりかえす…そんなヨーガを：）
全米ヨガアライアンス公認ヨガ講師養成コース修了、リストラティブヨガ指導者認定登録、アメリカRYT500登録インストラクター、800hrsヨガセラピーIAYT今現在一瞬ThisMoment&NOWをCELEBRATEするカリフォルニア＊ライフ！

帰国子女としてニューヨーク、テヘラン、カリフォルニアと転々、いずれ東京に帰る意識で日本語高等部卒大卒後シリコンバレーにとどまる。ヨガはカリフォルニア州立、バークレー大学時代、ストレス解消に効くと教授に教わり試してみるが... 合わずジャズサイズ、ウェイトトレーニング、エアロビックスのクラスに移転の２０代、３０代、産後、過労で体調を崩し大病も治癒。死ぬかと思った～大病後、久しぶりに足を踏み入れたヨガスタジオのヨガが大学時代のスローでポーズごと器械体操ごとく、つまらなーいヨガとはまったく違い進化していた。流れる踊りの振り付け的なヨガに魅せられる。数々の流派があることを習い、数種類のスタイルを試す。ビクラム、ホット、アイヤンガー、ヴィンヤサ、アシュタンガ・パワー、などなど。数年前サンフランシスコにて、ヨガアライアンス認定インストラクター養成を経て、インストラクター証書習得。同じ年にキッズヨガインストラクター証書ゲット。リストラテイブヨガ、インストラクター認定、陰ヨガのインターン、アシスト後、陰とヴィンヤサ、レギュラーハタクラスを教える。又プライベート、セミプライベートレッスンをクライアントのニーズの合わせ、ヨガセラピストとしてセラピー集中ヨガ提供。その為に２年間のアドバンスコースに挑みｃ－IAYT証書習得！ヨガ療法士としてIAYT(国際ヨガセラピスト協会）認定のヨガセラピスト、C-IAYT(Certified-IAYT) １０年以上、ベイクラブ、ヨガスタジオ、シリコンバレー社などで子育て中週４－５回レギュラーレッスンの講師を務める。３月２０２０にあの頃は最後とは知らずの週２教えていたスタジオにてのインパーソンヨガクラスを後に…遠方介護ニーズとコロナ禍を機に当分はパブリッククラスリードからはリタイア。
自分自身が心と体の調和で得た平穏…日常の小ちゃな事に見出す喜びをヨガ愛好者のどなたとでもと共有できたらと願うばかり。ジョイを共有し、ジョイフルライフを。そう、もし犬に例えるのであれば、恐れや威嚇で吠えまくる犬ではなく、シッポふりふり笑顔で愛と喜びに満ちた心持をヨガを通しシャア。恥じる気持ち等恐れず誰でもできる自身ジョイフルヨガを肝に銘じりたい。LOVE LOVE LOVE:）Shanti Shanti Shanti:)

Categories
Beautiful People Beautiful Rituals

DEVA PREMAL & MITEN with Manose…Bliss

Hey, seekers,  Listen to this music for the soul… Listen!

Listen to the waves…Ocean of Love – There’s so much magnificence. Yes, there is.

*** B*E*A*U*T*I*F*U*L***!

Rather rare for me but could not resist going to see them on their US tour… not likely for me to go to Germany to see them – if they are coming here, I cannot miss it… so went to a much awaited concert Tuesday night with 3 other goddesses:)  Beautiful music, beautiful people…beautiful spirits. Deva’s voice is mesmerizing but had not realized the incredible tune of the bamboo flute in a live show – the space shook with delicate vibration from the flute sounds, bringing out the best in Deva and Miten’s exquisite melodies – the entire audience was smitten I think by the sound of this Eastern flute.

Manose’s mastery over this simple bamboo flute was so amazing, I naively purchased the bansuri as I heard another concert goer purchase both sizes – if he can play it, so can I, naively thought I.   Well, I have been blowing on it last 4 days … it’s a struggle to get any decent sound out of this very simple yet elegant instrument.  So humbled, I really really appreciate Manose’s playing even more.  It is not like a piano or a guitar… Just getting a decent sound out of this flute is not easy.  Talk about “it’s all about the breath”!  Just the right breath and the right angle, and only then … it happens.  All the more I am grateful I got to hear one of the finest in flute playing…

If you are having a prelude to that Blue Monday feeling by being a bit blue already this Sunday night… Just recite, “There’s so much magnificence” and listen to the ocean waves…that this song evokes. Ocean waves, azure sky, beach… sun… warmth. LOVE:) Feel the warmth overtake you as we thank the extra one hour we were bestowed this evening.

Apparently  “So much Magnificence” was inspired from one of Kabir´s poems. Kabir was born in 1440 and died in 1518. He was born in Benares, India. He was a weaver and decided to write because he was inspired by the Sufi poetry and by Rumi, a spiritual Persian mystic master.  We recognize him to be a weaver in a metaphorical sense – he’s a weaver of yet another kinds of material, that of words by evoking the deep seated emotions in all of us –  he weaves into expression with such mastery …Here, words are weaved into a luminous poem like this:

The darkness of night
is coming along fast,
and the shadows of love
close in the body and the mind.
Open the window to the west,
and disappear into the air inside you.
Near your breastbone there is an open flower.
Drink the honey that is all around that flower.
Waves are coming in:
There is so much magnificence near
the ocean.
Listen: sound of immense seashells!
Sound of bells!
Kabir says: “Friend, listen,
This is what I have to say:
The Guest I love is inside me!”
-Kabir-
translated by Robert Bly

A beautiful poem…

Today I was reminded of beauty of human spirit as I witnessed artists and poets at Kids&Art workshop. Creative spirit, like waves took over in remembrance of beautiful souls… “so much magnificence” in the face of sorrow. Beauty, love and light triumphs over fear, grief and darkness – such an appropriate event on Diwali.  The cornerstone of Diwali celebration ” lies the significance of the victory of good over evil;… and the lights that illuminate our homes and hearts, that this simple truth finds new reason and hope. From darkness unto light — the light that empowers us to commit ourselves to good deeds, that which brings us closer to divinity.”

It’s like a non-Christian saying Merry Christmas so perhaps in the same vein, not in a religious sense, wishing all a Happy Diwali !  We all need Festival of Lights when the darkness envelopes the evening hours earlier to shorten our days… So Much Magnificence to this celebration of lights.

Waves are coming in. Amen.

Categories
Beautiful People

BlogHer Silicon Valley 2013

Check out BlogHer Silicon Valley !

October 22-23, 2013
Sofitel San Francisco Bay

Purvi Shah, Co-Founder of Kids & Art,  will be speaking among many  women entrepreneurs.   Bloggers and entrepreneurs from across the spectrum, from all over the country will flock to Silicon Valley to learn from each other… the synergy from such an event is sure to inspire.

Photos to follow…

Categories
Healthy Living Yoga

Yang vs. Yin Yoga

We need both in this life of dualism. Our body is a beautiful microcosm – it’s cosmic within. We know so much through advances in medicine and science but even to Dr. Hinohara (refer back to my 10/5/2013 post), much is still shrouded in mystery.  Some may refer to our body as a refined machine to marvel but as a non-medical person, I am in awe of it as a temple that houses our divinity… at its peak, I am in awe of it and …as it withers and ages, I am in awe of it. Modern medicine is amazing but it does not reverse the clock. What can we do? We need to tend to it … lovingly. Just like my grandmother used to pray with seasonal offerings, we need to make an offering to our own alter… in my case, through yoga and other movements …to lift the spirits.  All things important to us, we have to care for them or they wither away and languish or even perish…

More on this later – just realized I am subbing a yin class tomorrow for a wonderful teacher. May I just say that when I sub, I am not a replacement – I am just a provider of another style, another guide, a facilitator for you to find or stay on course on your own path. Just like there are many sherpas on the Himalaya, the maps we share are the same but we may not take the same route… the trail and the terrain may look a bit different … so please don’t expect me to replicate the same blue-print of your regular teacher whose style is unique and irreplaceable.

I like to sub as with me, I like breath of fresh air and enjoy the change in the routines. I tend to always unroll my mat at the same place, I always order green tea soy latte with no syrup, I always like to watch certain shows, I always like to X Y and Z… we are all a creature of habit. To me, it’s like this:  Subbing allows both the teacher and students to experience another style, another personality …. another way – it’s a good thing. Also it means that the regular teacher entrusted this humble sub just there to please by sharing her practice  – Thank you Myra & Marcella! I know this yoga tribe to be filled with brilliant gems…you are both precious, like such gems.  Thank you for your trust (that I won’t do something crazy!).

At Judith Lasater’s advance-level teacher training, we talked about how we hate subbing because of EGO…some egos have a distaste for anything called a “substitute”. Seems to me, there’s a prejudice or a perception that a sub is less than or not as good – it’s that notion you got from your school-boy/girl days growing up where subs really were there just to do the very minimum to get by, most with little passion. Post school, we need to see it as an opportunity to learn another way or a chance to enjoy a breath of fresh air. Prejudice clouds perception – why not see it as an opportunity to gain freedom from self imposed entrapments.  It’s an opportunity to explore something new.  Be assured it is not a waste of your precious time – Anything “new” is good for your brain circuitry!  As for your nerves, maybe you will grow new synapses just by coming in contact with me, serving as a sub:) What a thought!  My teacher, Judith Lasater herself started from subbing while she raised 3 children. I respect her authenticity for teaching regularly only when she felt she was able to really give all to her students. Because that’s what it takes… ALL.

I resigned from teaching regularly Thursday evenings at a lovely community center with lovely people for reasons I don’t feel like disclosing.  Yesterday, I was asked at a studio from a well meaning lady, “when would you be teaching?” – while it was flattering, I felt the pressure. I might have said something about ahhh, figuring out the schedule, etc. blah, blah (read “excuses”)- I should have said, thank you – let me know what works for you and I will try my best to accommodate. I am sorry I didn’t. I hope to be at that place sooner than later.

See you tomorrow AM – I will focus on stomach/digestive system… our “gut” so that you can live more true to your “gut” feelings. Your physical state totally affects your emotional state of being.  It’s all connected.  Unclog & detox (more through foods we eat) your meridians and allow the prana to flow to all your vital organs – feel the flow.  It’s my “gut” feeling – Very important region in our body as we head into the holiday season when we get overloaded with To Do list that snowballs. Hope to relieve you a bit through the magic of yoga:)