Monthly Musings

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Yoga Works! It’s That Simple

Shannon Conway

As a student of yoga or simply life, I want to find my edge.  That uncomfortable place I resist but yearn for simultaneously.  There’s a rush when I push through a layer and feel myself  strengthen.  My perspective shifts. The longer I practice yoga, the more I enjoy all aspects of my life.  I’m only in the yoga room for 90 minutes at a time, but I carry my yoga with me when I’m out running, when I’m being a mom, when I’m managing my business, talking to a friend or catching up with one of my sisters. Yoga works. It really is that simple.

Yoga teacher training offers the opportunity to safely seek and grow that edge.  Here at Bend Yoga, we are preparing to host YogaWorks’ wildly successful 200 hour foundational teacher training program with trainers Nikki Estrada and Erika Trice, and I was fortunate enough to be able to take this very same training last summer.

Bend was settlng into 90-degree dog days when I headed south to foggy San Francisco.  YogaWorks’ beautiful studio in the trendy Pacific Heights neighborhood became my summer home.  It’s gorgeous–full of dark wood, comfortable couches and tables covered with glossy brochures offering yoga adventures across the globe. My course was taken in the intensive format, where all 200 hours are completed in 30 days.  2-3 hour practices form the cornerstone of the experience, as a dynamic and detailed study of asana is the key component of the YogaWorks method of training.   There were 28 of us.  Differences melted away with tight friendships quickly forming. Many of the students present were not initially looking to teach, they simply wanted to deepen their personal practices.

After our 2-3 hour practices we would spend time ‘looking at bodies’ in asana. Everyone felt shy about this at first, but within a few days we all hoped we’d be chosen.  Haven fallen sway to the power of the course we became sticklers for correct alignment.  Afternoons were spent reading and discussing the sutras, practice teaching and exploring topics such as handling injuries, teaching to a prenatal audience, and yoga history and philosophy.  On Saturdays we gathered for lively anatomy classes with a trained anatomy teacher.  Everyone was irritated about the first Saturday, given our week had been long and intense, but the energy of the teacher and material left us hungry for more when the clock struck 1pm, releasing us back into the world.  Homework assignments were rigorous but fascinating, ranging in breadth from detailed anatomy worksheets and teaching scripts to essays on philosophy.  We grew to love and thrive on our long days, returning fresh and eager for more each morning.  The experience was challenging, wonderful, awful and nourishing and often all on the same day.  By the end of the month, bright-eyed students who only wanted to deepen their practices were preparing to teach to friends, to co-workers or to pursue teaching assignments at gyms and studios.  The day that the 300-hour course was presented to us as a next step, more than 20 of the students eagerly took the material and began matching their schedules to the dates.  Our trainers, Nikki Estrada and Mynx Inatsugu, were exactly the right voices of calm and encouragement for us all, and we formed sweet connections with our two assistants Christy and Hillary.  It was a magical month, and I was sad to see it end.  I am so thrilled we are bringing this power filled course to beautiful Bend.  It is world class, thorough, professional, and full of content and heart.  If you are a serious student of yoga, if you’ve ever thought you might want to teach some day, if you simply want to find your personal edge–I encourage you to join us on November 15th at 1pm when we’ll be hosting Nikki Estrada for a free YogaWorks Level 2 class and information session about our upcoming training, scheduled to begin January 8, 2010.

Yoga, Purpose and Action.

Aleta Raphael-Brock

I had many reminders last month of what it means to give of oneself: to show up full of grace for your own healing and growth as well as for the healing and growth of others. I attended the Off the Mat, Into the World® training with Sean Corn, Suzanne Sterling and Hala Khouri at Esalen in Big Sur, CA. At the start of the program Sean was describing how in a yoga practice there comes a time when you must “recycle” your energy, that in fact it is our responsibility to give back. This is the yogic practice of seva, or selfless service. Service can be in your life in many ways. It may be the way you show up with all your presence for your children or your partner, it may mean bearing witness to a struggle of a friend or family member and offering yourself to them without expectation, it may be volunteering or working with a charity or non-profit, it may be donating funds or supplies to those in need. There are many ways to give. We must remember that we are all connected, that each thought and action effects the whole, and that our celebrations of life mean so much more when shared. We must stay connected, look past our individual stories and see the soul which contains the shared light of love. We must move as a community and do the work toward enlightenment together. Just imagine if everyone on the planet dropped to their knees with undeniable love for the luminosity of the moon or for the rich soil of the earth. Imagine if each person took a moment to feel divinity within themselves. What kind of a world would it be if everyone worked to release negative, self-limiting thoughts about themselves and made fewer and fewer judgments about others? Think of how much love you can share with another person by simply listening to them with your entire being. This is the work of yoga, showing up for yourself and showing up for the world with your huge, compassionate heart! ~Aleta

Check out Off the Mat, Into the World® and all the wonderful work they do to inspire yogis to make a difference in their communities.

How do I
Listen to others?
As if everyone were my Master
Speaking to me
His
Cherished
Last
Words.
~Hafiz

From Healing into Life and Death by Stephen Levine

If healing is as it seems, the integration of body and mind into the heart, then our only direction has always been to healing. Healing is the growth that each person seeks. Healing is what happens when we come to our edge, to the unexplored territory of mind and body, and take a single step beyond into the unknown, the space in which all growth occurs. Healing is discovery. It goes beyond life and death. Healing occurs not in the tiny thoughts of who we think we are and what we know, but in the vast undefinable spaciousness of being–of what we essentially are–not whom we imagined we shall become.

Ahimsa – Non-harming, non-violence

Ahimsa is the first of the yamas, the ethical principles described in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. It means non-harming or non-violence. It is often understood to mean not harming any creature in speech, thought or action. Yoga master B.K.S. Iyengar goes on to say that ahimsa is coupled with unconditional love for all creatures. This teaching brings awareness to how we direct our thoughts and our actions and how we interact with others. This is easier said than done! The first step in the practice of non-harming is becoming aware of our own harmful behavior. This can be anything from a negative thought about our body to a deceitful action toward a difficult person in our lives. In your yoga practice this month, try bringing kind awareness to your thoughts and actions, trusting that EVERYONE has harmful thoughts from time to time! We invite you to notice if there are areas in your life and your yoga practice where you can invite more universal love and acceptance.

Click here to take the vow of Ahimsa
I vow to live each moment with Love, Grace, Creativity, Compassion and Wisdom. I vow to BE Love, Grace, Creativity, Compassion and Wisdom. By Being Love, Grace, Creativity, and Compassion I will lead a life of Ahimsa and become Wisdom.

It is more than a negative command not to kill, for it has a wider positive meaning, love. This love embraces all creation for we are all children of the same father – the Lord. The yogi believes that to kill or to destroy a being is to insult its Creator…Violence results out of fear, weakness, ignorance or restlessness. To curb it what is most needed is freedom from fear. ~ B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on Yoga