Category: Yoga

in fact, it can be very very muddy harvesting this root for our gastronomical consumption…

Okay, so here too, it’s mud, mud, mud, no lotus (flower) up North in Vancouver this season.
Where is the blossom? When does it flower?

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Returned from Japan via Taipei (just a stopover during typhoon weather – would love to explore this city next time), then to Vancouver (stayed awhile – a very cosmopolitan city with lots of yoga – after all, isn’t this place the birthplace of Lululemon?) and now home. What a relief… “there’s no place like home” cried Dorothy and savoring that similar sentiment – if only I could have just clicked the heels of ruby red shoes to get home. Or have that Doraemon-like private helicopter to go from one place to another with no time zone diff. Rather, a head-spin… Suffering from the worst jet lag ever…

Feeling unprepared as I stress over coming back to reality where TO DO LIST awaits stealth like … Probably not having been able to practice the kind of yoga that’s suitable for last couple weeks have brought on this sense of … discomfort. Serious discomfort in my own skin. It’s a bitter medicine to learn from the consequence of not listening to my own body and mind – I should know how to take care of them – I should know better – all studied – yes, that art of self-care – and yet, somehow all went out the window as I let myself languish in the hot heat and humidity of 95% … somehow made myself a prisoner to an air conditioned indoor environment … as news constantly reported alarming temperatures of near or over 100F and dangers of sun strokes… Take one step outside, and immediately, I would be dripping with sweat – so muggy – sweltering suffocating heat. If you like Bikram yoga, I suppose, it’s just ideal … but it’s not just 90 minutes – it’s 24/7. How is that for hell for a pitta dosha like me? I used to love summer in Japan as a child but … it’s either global warming or my body has changed – it’s so much hotter than how I remember my childhood summers – even college years summers in Japan. I Love Japan but only in Spring, Autumn and Winter …30F degrees cooler upon landing to Vancouver… (95 degrees cooled to about 60… I would call this a drastic change…)

While in Vancouver, feeling the need to “restore” myself into balance, did seek out a Restorative yoga class and a Yin – always fascinating to see how others teach them – at a sparkly posh downtown studio, the 90 minutes class taught by a father of a two-year old, rather buffed young instructor, very talkative with an interesting playlist, first; an interesting sequence of many squats, second; an interesting ‘take’ on “restorative yoga”, third. Guess ALL yoga should be “restorative” in one way or another so his departure from the expected can be appreciated. Let’s just say, it was a playground … with props. Packed to the brim with 50+ diverse students and counting – a bit surprised on Sunday morning at 9:45 … while not exactly what I had expected nor wanted, it worked to bring about some sense of ease and comfort in my own body tight, stiff and sore from hours of sitting and waiting in different time zones. So in need of relief … (will cover this class at another post)So in need of comfort, support and sense of security. A Balance.

As I tried to restore myself, I found myself chanting to self … “no mud, no lotus, no mud, no lotus… ” My trip to Japan was not a vacation – visiting my aunt dying at a hospice was grating to my nerves and exhausting … Why do good people have to leave this world to go to another? Why does our body have to wither away ? Why do we suffer? If we can’t live forever, we have to live in the moment – that eternal moment. That eternity we pin our hopes to – that life is meaningful and precious.

Tried to find peace as I took in the group energy…all looking for some relief from the daily grind – the struggles… Sunday is a day God (or Higher Power) bestowed on us to REST, DIGEST, INTEGRATE so that we may PREPARE for Monday.

AND lotus roots are so tasty… love RENKON – a very popular common root veggie in Japan is lotus roots… it’s super yummy:)

I realize I am getting away from the Buddhist teaching significance …celebrating this root vegetable. It’s crunchy and yet a little bit chewy …a must for Chirashi sushi my mother used to make:)

and here’s renkon edamame …

and renkon chips:)

So…

No mud, No lotus. No dark, No light. No sadness, No happiness. No Yang, No Yin. No Grief … No Joy then. Repeat – No Mud, No Lotus.
Both spiritual and gastronomical – Amen.

It’s New Moon tonight – the dark moon – the hidden moon often signifies not so much setting of goals but making the intentions or dedications – so thought about the seeds that some of these master yoga teachers gave us … they sowed the seeds:

If you hear the whole interview … Maty refers to it as a “gift” from BKS Iyengar – i.e., “Restorative Yoga” is a gift from the guru. I love Maty’s wisdom and humanity:

* The point is to give you more peace of mind…
* I like to have totality of humanity in my class …

why limit?

* how many people beat themselves up?
* They feel bad… they think they are less of a yogi because they can’t bind … THEN you missed the whole point of yoga … LOVE; YESSS, MORE LOVE!

Yoga is being flexible and pliable … block? Okay! hand? Okay! I try it this way? Okay ! THAT’S YOGA !

Yoga is supposed to be therapeutic.

As parents, we cultivate our children; we want them to blossom into what’s good for them …

Why push a child to be a doctor if the child wants to be an artist – why not artist?

I think students who study Ashtanga should know what’s restorative practice is about.
They should know it.
It’s so magical; it’s such a bridge to pranayama; it’s a bridge to meditation.

YES !

Then I have a student who is VERY capable in the MIND-WISE; they understand that a restorative practice is good; when they understand that a prop can be helpful; when they have that kind of mind; their physical body understands what to do; THEN I WILL teach them the Ashtanga. I will. Why not?

In the West a lot of us are broken. We are really hard on ourselves.

Many people in the West feel feel unworthy and hate themselves …it took him half an hour (to understand and) when he did, he started weeping – “this is wrong thinking” … (the Dali Lama story)

(Iyengar) He was a magician …

This is my way; do it my way or you are no good – I don’t buy that.
This is just one way. It’s a good way. But it has limitations. Why not see what else is possible?

As long as it’s benefit of the student. True benefit to the student – it’s a BENEFIT to your knee; your hip; your ability to nicer to yourself; sweeter to yourself; benefit to the student you have the privilege to teach yoga to.

At some point, it has to feel GOOD!

He was scientifically brilliant.

A-types; triple A-types … ha, ha, ha.

Dali Lama can’t hold his ankles! But he’s the most spiritual creature I’ve ever met!!

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For all yoga teachers and practitioners – one is not better than the other – it’s not a contest, competition or a boot camp**. It’s ALL yoga. Love her intelligence, dedication, humanness. She’s in the league with Judith – like no other. Sheer Respect for these dedicated souls having taught for decades.

** Having said that, she’s one tough teacher – the intensive session with Maty was … tough. BUT there’s this sense of security knowing that she will not harm your body nor mind. She will not place pressure on a body that is less capable or build structurally different. There’s already so much pressure off the mat – why create more on the mat? “At some point, it has to feel GOOD” – YES. It has to feel good. I am tired of gritting teeth, pounding, intense, hard workout. I mean … why? What is there to gain?

Being in the same space as the renowned teacher, Judith Hanson Lasater, and listening to her speak in this language made me want to pull out my anatomy book to decode (well, it’s written by her) and review (it was my textbook from teacher training…) She has a workshop called “Experiential Anatomy” coming up ! Let’s sign up:) Never thought I would be interested as anatomy was not the subject area I was particularly interested in during my yoga teacher training but an area I just felt I needed to merely get through and be done with… BUT She makes anatomy interesting, even exciting and fun, not boring dry subject you are praying that you can just memorize with flashcards or whatever method you use to remember those darn vocabulary – all the muscle group and bones names and get tested on and then … just … forget about. It was a section I prayed to be over with asap in our training so we can get onto that more exciting “spiritual path”:) Yes, confession of a yoga teacher – I was never one to be all that interested in bodily parts, preferring poetry and literature over biology or physiology BUT … something changed by being in Judith’s presence… Anatomy is an integral part of getting to know the Self – yes, the physical Self not the astral, subtle or the more esoteric Self (while fascinating also) but the REAL meat and bones of our touch and feel makeup. Why? Because we want to find comfort and ease in our own skin, right now, the way we are, whatever we inherited from our mothers and fathers.

Her gleeful enthusiasm on the subject of anatomy is catchy … yes, her interest in the body’s makeup is infectious – your body after all is a house we need to tend to and would be good to know how it works, how it functions … the design, the layout, the plumbing and wiring and all … without having to go to med school – to really see it as a whole moving, integral organic part of your whole being – a living house, a loving home to your … soul.

So here’s a run-down on even the basics I had forgotten a bit when you combine the anatomy with movement … is that called kinetics (mechanics)… a good time to review – who talks like this though? It’s just one of those – being able to be more specific when you are explaining… just another way to … exercise your brain muscle:)

extension is movement that straightens of opens a joint moves along the sagittal plane (example opening fingers from a fist)

flexion movement that bends a joint and brings it closer together moves along the sagittal plane (example bringing your knee up to your chest)

adduction joint that brings a limb to the midline (example hugging yourself)

abduction joint that moves limb away from midline (example getting on a bike)

medial rotation at shoulder and hip joints turns joint into midline (example slapping someone from the outside of your body to the inside)

lateral rotation at shoulder and hip joints turns joint away from midline (example writing words on paper)

rotation relates to the axial skeleton moving either left or right (example reaching behind you from on a ladder to grab a box)

circumduction any part of your body that can make a circulair movement (example rolling your wrist in a circle)

elevation moves joint or bone superiorly (example shrugging your shoulders)

depression moving joint or bone inferiorly (expample open your jaw as in shock aka :O )

lateral flexion occurs at the axial skeleton left or right (example bending your back left or right)

supination in relation to the foearm when the palm of your hand faces up (example holding a cup of water from its base)

pronation in relation to the foearm when the palm of the hand faces down (example spilling glass of water)

inversion pointing the bottom of your foot to the midline of your body – not yogi’s inversion I guess.

eversion pointing the bottom of the foot away from the midline of the body

plantar flexion movement of the ankle when your point your toes (example ballerinas dancing on their toes)

dorsiflexion movement of the ankle when you flex your feet (example standing up on your feet)

protraction moving your jaw forward away from the spine

retraction moving your jaw back to the spine

– from Trail Guide by Andrew Biel (then onto YogaBody… Judith’s book that is directed to yoga practitioners so all the above examples would be as it relates to asanas.)

Do we actually speak like above in the class? Noooo; maybe sometimes.
Does speaking like the above make us a better yoga teacher? Not really – BUT does clarify by being specific when that’s necessary – otherwise, I too prefer more poetic or even just everyday use of language … still

it’s just …

fun.