Category: Yoga

Prime Minister, a yogi … so very cool.
& according to a beautiful Canadian yogini I met last week, his dad was also a yogi and a martial artist (judo?).
Soooo contrasting to our Presidential candidates, although it’s been reported that Hillary practices yoga – she must with all the stress she carries – and for that, she gets my approval:)
The joke is if a certain candidate becomes the President of the free world, Canada may have to put up a wall to block Americans fleeing, crossing the border into their democratic country.

Here’s a picture of the very first, original, flagship Lululemon store where yoga was taught upstairs from the retail store downstairs … The store has a down-to-earth feel which evokes the Height Ashbury Flower Children era-ish – 60’s “groovy” designs? Apparently they are moving into a larger, more updated and sleek store being built down the street.

It looked to be a happy place:)

33.3 Trillion? Sadly we only see value expressed in terms of a price tag.Shinrin Ryoku … haaah … the oxygen rush:)a tree hugger…Straight up and up into the sky …So grand.Trees in Japanese Garden by the pond are a bit delicate, willowy and curvy …
Spiraling towards the waters & the sky. Getting a bit chilly after the hike. Focus and Grow a tree:)

Yoga-ed out and still drowning in homework watching wonderful videos on … anatomy.
Anatomy is fascinating but one can only take so much.
It’s my own folly for cramming instead of doing little at a time.
Yet thanks to all this yogic training,
NOT stressed but blessed to learn so we can make a difference.
Difference in neural pathways and …lives. Real lives.

Module 8: The Nervous System, August 27 & 28, 2016

Instructor: Mitch Hall, PhD, RYT

Module Description:

… the neurological basis and therapeutic importance of body awareness,

interoception, attachment theory and research, interpersonal neurobiology, how secure

attachment and mindfulness practices affect the nervous system similarly, attunement,

effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), the polyvagal theory of Stephen W.

Porges, neuroception, heart rate variability (HRV) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia

(RSA), the neurosequential model of therapeutics (NMT) of Bruce D. Perry, sensitization

and tolerance, threat response patterns, hyperarousal and dissociation, state-
dependent functioning, right and left hemisphere modes of functioning, mirror neurons

and resonance circuits, medial prefrontal cortex functions, how mindful yoga can

more.

Just what we all needed !
What is the difference between a yoga instructor and a yoga therapist… What differentiates us from what we are already?
Our goal is that they not need us anymore so that they can practice on their own and carry on to find the healer within. We could do this given the knowledge and training we have in how our mind-body-spirit integrates to bring about a homeostasis. It’s condition specific and individualized. I’d want to work with one myself in all honesty. Any one of my peers at this training, I would be proud to refer – each one, so caring and …after this training, skilled and *knowledgeable. (*actually the difference – was told is the “precision” to which tools of yoga are applied – as to which pose, pranayama, other yogic tools would best serve the client to further their healing. Thus, the emphasis to know ourselves intimately well…)

So then group classes would be all about – connecting with others to practice with and have a “community”. To find mutual support; and the teacher may be there to hold a space of safety and joy – that would be ideal …to hold such a space of the like-minded… all who love yoga because of first hand knowledge experiencing how it feels and how it feels without.
(stressed, fatigued, stiff, tight, cramped, aches and pains … and stuck, the hold patterns… yukky feelings of gloom and doom, yes? Sleep? What’s that?)
And at all times to serve with humility. As Judith said, it’s not about us, take the ego out – it’s about doing the work (and play:) of yoga. Yoga works.
Where am I?
Love to revisit …

by assisting Judith H. Lasater’s teacher training Level 2 with other veteran assistants.

Some Yogis may have a misunderstanding about Judith Lasater’s work … I realize that Ashtangis may put down the practice she has really popularized but actually to me, it’s not about, to some, oh, so OCD-ish ways of folding blankets (to me, it’s not so OCD-ish as after all, I’m from the Origami culture. It’s normal that you’d want the blankets folded just right to have them support you in your yoga pose so that the affect is also, just right… If not Japanese, it’s also from the German fairy tale too, right? The Goldilocks must have things just so right – not too hard, not too soft – it’s JUST RIGHT!) and attention to details but … it’s more about her insights into teachings and her knowledge over yoga philosophy, human anatomy and psychology rolled into one. She is really a “therapist” in a real sense of the word. She invites you to discover the healer within from wealth of her experience over her long and active lifespan. I mean really, who with 3-4 grandkids still teaches to the extent that she does? Her mind is sharper than mine, her stamina greater and really, she seems tireless. What is her secret? One would wonder, right? The secrets are revealed more you learn from her …

It’s also a realization that – kind of like Picasso, when you first see his work, it seems so simple in abstract, you tend to think, he cannot draw ! But has anyone seen his drawings and sketches, the studies. He can draw like the most “correct” in terms of perspectives and realistic accuracies … but he chooses to break it down for a certain affect. Restorative is kind of like that in that the Judith with her years of Iyengar sure can do those poses but she keyed into the particulars because she thought it would be so helpful for us especially she saw that aspect as being under-appreciated and … missing. Really … missing.

Today we had a guest lecturer/speaker, Judith’s long time Iyengar teacher peer, Roger Cole, PhD. I was soooo exhausted (up before 6am to get ready of things in general and teaching a 7:40am class before rushing to SF for this TT), I was in this self-help mode of setting up my own low key restorative influenced posture to listen to him as I thought this would be a repeat of the lecture I heard few years ago when I was a student in this teacher training. We all know the benefits of restorative yoga like strengthening the immune system, thus reducing inflammations, the creativity/intuition boost, weight loss through stress management, lowered blood pressures and healthier heart, etc. Yes, the main point of all the benefits was unwavering but he had added a recent hypothesis and some research where Restorative Yoga in certain postures produces chemical fluids in our brain, that physiologically cleansed out our head space when poses were sequenced correctly. Hard to believe? He did cite a study where lack of sleep led to Alzheimer disease developing within 5 years for mature adults; and he hopes to prove a point that restorative yoga would head off similar deterioration of our brain function. He hypothesizes that done right (where we are alternating between Alpha wave state and Theta wave states – or the yogic state to describe that would be one of 8 limbs of yoga – Pratyahara:) the practice has a promising anti-aging effects to ward off plaques forming in circulatory systems, promoting better lymphatic drainage, and certain brain fluids to cleanse our brains of buildup of the unwanted such as toxins and its residues. Hard to believe? His lecture was rather convincing coming from the words of a scientist and an expert yoga teacher.

Roger Cole has several articles published in the Yoga Journal, all very helpful for anyone who’s really into yoga. Here it is:) I for one would love to take his workshop someday – in my yoga learning bucket list, yes:)

So … we should all work on our sleep hygiene, do restorative yoga if not everyday, at least reward yourselves for all the hard work, once a week.
A lovely yogini N. is subbing for me to lead such a restorative yoga class this Sunday. It’s I am sure the kind of class I’d want to slip into – Thank you for covering Sunday evening.