It’s quite a ritual with auspicious food to celebrate Girls:) It’s Sakura mode here in Japan this time of the year – pink, pink, pink … All gratitude for all the girls in my life and … being allowed to be forever a girl.
Category: Healthy Living
I had fun subbing for a very well respected senior Iyengar yoga teacher – using the ultimate prop – the yoga wall! This version of yoga wall was a bit more complicated than the standard yoga ropes used at most Iyengar studios so I felt a little anxious to sub-teach the class. What’s different? Jason’s wall has all the bells and whistles, with safety buckles, balls and sockets, additional props – the belt, handles, bars – so I might say that there are yoga walls and there are GREAT YOGA WALLS.
Hearing that Iyengar certified instructors are only permitted to teach in that style, while I highly respect the Iyengar teaching, liking sounds and flow more, I had never pursued their brand of teacher training. Rather I pursued the Yoga Therapist training at 800 hrs. after the 200 hrs. and 500 hrs. with Yoga Alliance. Still, Iyengar school , I so respect as there are so many fundamentals and superb take aways from Iyengar teachings.
Treating the class as more of Iyengar Inspired Yoga Therapeutics with Yoga Wall, I am happy to report the 75 minute class progressed smoothly, a student walked out saying “it was awesome! ” even, much to my delight – all thanks to Jason Cull’s Yoga Wall training level 1&2. Yes, happy to report that my fears of someone falling off and getting injured, thank goodness, did not happen. Rather this super enthusiastic guy I was worried may fall out of the strap, didn’t and walked out with that awesome comment.
Thank you Jason – I’m glad your training prepared me well to face room full of students with diverse body types and needs. Now if I could only get this wall home – especially after a 10 hours flight back from Asia, use of yoga wall felt soooo good as I got to lengthen strengthen the compression I felt along the lower back – and ah what elation – to go up side down without worrying about my cervical spine ( I had a whiplash many years ago when a drunk driver rear ended me on HW 880 between Berkeley and Silicon Valley – the nightmare commute).
Yoga wall is so therapeutic- I was one happy yoga therapist last night.
Yoga Health Center is the only place with this Great Wall here in the Bay Area.
Feels sooo good – just hanging out -Blissed our:). Thank you also to Maria and Regina for entrusting me to lead the class. I usually rise to the occasion and that’s one of the many benefits of yogic lifestyle – to say YES ! whereas before yoga, I might have snubbed it – too busy, too tired, too sudden, too unprepared, too unsure, too imperfect, too hard, too risky … etc etc. Today, I just say YES:) Yes, Saying YES to sharing the teachings of yoga brings Joy:) Yoga is not about pretzel poses and stern serious faces – it’s about connecting to our higher Self … that inner Joy that is everyone’s birthright.
Hanging out … floating weightless to me is …about inviting this natural rush … you are flooded with this sense of …
Euphoria:)
A module in Yoga Therapy Teacher Training at Niroga Institute, taught by Antonia Fokken, LMFT, RYT 500. What was a surprising take away from this module? That: “Yoga can be Medicine or Poison” depending on how it’s taught as I had believed that yoga as a general rule is medicinal. But just like not all foods are nouishing and good; while some foods are indeed medicinal – rainbow colored veggies and fruits and grains, while other process foods high in bad kind of fat and carbs are not – they are both foods. One can draw a similar analogy when it comes to yoga – depending on how it’s transmitted and instructed, the effect is so different so it all starts out with – your intention. To be medicinal or poison, it’s that impactful, your teaching methodology, so we have to be so careful. It’s not about TLC and soft voice, being nice, temporary fix of a pose etc. – all the prevalent misunderstanding – it’s about how we need to be so so mindful, and, above all, do no harm. How does one define trauma to begin with – for some, it begins with that.
Traumatic symptoms are not caused by “triggering”event itself but by the frozen residue that remains trapped in the nervous system where it can wreak havoc on our bodies and spirits.”
and leads to the following conclusion some may find surprising:
“The key to healing traumatic symptoms is through our physiology..”
-Peter Levine
We don’t want to be tip-toeing around,and interface as though you are dealing with fine-china with crack lines you are afraid to touch for fear of a breakdown – I mean, what could be more annoying than be treated as though … No, it’s about respecting and empowering the person to find the safety he/she can access with techniques – to fully become engaged in one’s own healing process and for that, first above all, it’s about that place of … safety and support …trust. That does not mean just nice platitudes, no matter how well meaning, but actual science based techniques that one can pull out that toolbox whenever needed to really live in the present moment. To overcome fear.
Then I am reminded of the 6 R’s of Healing Trauma as referenced by Bruce Perry presented by Antonia Fokken and how it would look like in a yoga practice …which was based on his recommendation of
“Patterned, repetitive, rhythmic somatosensory activity … elicits a sensation of safety. Rhythm is regulating.”
& it was a beautiful practice we learned so much from. Thank you for all the teachings … the best faculty teachings @ Niroga:) All gratitude.
Does anyone have these books suggested by Niroga I may borrow?
“In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness”
by Peter Levine
The Body keeps the Score
by Bessel van der Kolk
Otherwise, off to the library …