Handstand Workshop today at Aladdin Yoga in Shenzhen! We kick off our 3 Day Weekend Intensive today. Excited to work with these students. There are so many poses you can practice to improve your Handstand. Plank Pose is one of the best warm up poses for Handstand. If you have a solid Plank Pose and a solid Chatturanga (Low Plank) you are strong enough for most arm balances, including the Handstand.
When you take the journey inward and experience your inner Light — Love, kindness, and compassion, flows out of you to those around you. You ask, “How can I be of service” “How can I help?” “How can I make the world a better place?” We could say another name for the ‘pure consciousness’ within us is ‘love’. Not the kind of love that is selfish and asks, “What’s in it for me?
The Tripod Head Balance is an excellent intermediate Head Balance Pose. The Easy Tripod, with the knees on the back of the upper arms, is a great pose to teach you to let go of the wall and find balance in the middle of the room. My teacher, Sri Dharma Mittra, often jokes that Elephants and Dogs can do the Easy Tripod. Lol. The Tripod Head Balance is more challenging than the Bound Head Balance.
I’ve been very fortunate to have some really wonderful teachers in my life and on my yoga journey. Each of my teachers always brought a sense of lightness to things, they all found ways to be playful and to have fun. I try to bring this playfulness to all of my classes and remind the students that I’m training to become teachers to always remember to have fun when they are teaching.
Some more highlights from our Shiva Yoga 200hr RYT Teacher Training Program! I will miss this amazing group of Yogis. I am leaving Wenling today for Shenzhen! I am sad to leave. Leading these trainings is definitely a practice for me. Yoga teaches us so much about concentration, going into the fire, experiencing the present moment, and then letting go, surrendering. This is yoga practice. Over and over again. It’s like that when I lead these intensive Teacher Training Program’s too, just like another practice. It’s been an intense 5 weeks. Incredible focus and concentration. We went deep into the fire. Now, it is time to let go and prepare for the next adventure. Time is always moving forward. Concentrate, go into the fire. Breathe into each moment, live fully, and then let go, let it go, and focus on the next moment. Every ending is a new beginning! Namaste. Lots of love to you, Wenling! See you again soon.
Teaching my students some different variations of Vacistasana and different transitions in and out of the pose. This transition from the Equestrian Pose (Runner’s Lunge) is one of the easiest ways to come into full Vacistasana. Told my students the story of Vacista and King Vishvamitra too. It’s a good story about karma, tapas, letting go of the ego, and letting go of magical thinking.
Yoga Nidra is part of the Shiva Meditation practice that I teach. We had some very deep Shiva Meditation classes at Baja Soul Yoga this past weekend. Yoga Nidra is a pratyahara practice. Pratyahara means sense withdrawal. The purpose of the practice is to turn inward and let go of the outer world and even leave the body behind.
What makes your practice sacred? You get to choose how sacred your practice is to you. It's up to you. Sacred ritual is one of the ways that we can define when something is special to us. We inject our energy into these sacred rituals and into our practice. What you are training yourself to do is to also inject your energy into your life. It's up to you to make your practice special and to give it meaning. It's up to you to make your life special and give it meaning.
Yogis! We know that in our yoga practice we are on a journey into stillness. We are working towards quieting the mind, and moving deeper into stillness, so that we can experience a deeper connection to our Self. We also know that once we experience this deeper connection it changes our relationship to everyone and everything around us. We change our relationship to our Self and that changes our relationship to everything else. It’s like we have to get alone with our Self before we can truly connect with others.
Practicing gratitude is practicing yoga.
The yogis were very good at dealing with the mind. Most of our yoga philosophy is not about the body but about the mind.
The yogis realized that the mind was constantly falling down. The mind didn't automatically lift itself up and go towards the light. The opposite was true. The mind was never satisfied. Even brief moments of satisfaction were only followed by more dissatisfaction. The mind's natural tendency was to go towards darkness.
Get out of your comfort zone! No one in the history of the world ever said... I never challenged myself, always stayed in my comfort zone, and when things got intense, I avoided them and often ran away and hid under the bed, and I’ve lived a very fulfilling life, and I think I achieved my full potential...
You know all the good stuff happens when you are vulnerable, when it’s intense, when you are out of your comfort zone. So, you’ve got to override that voice that keeps telling you to get back in your comfort zone. The yogis know that if you feel vulnerable, you’re in the right place. If you are afraid and there’s some resistance, you’re in the right place. You’re job is to dance with the fear, push through the resistance, and go there. Show up for yourself. Courage in yoga isn’t about doing some fancy pose. It’s about sitting in the fire and letting it burn. The hotter the fire, the sharper the knife. The stronger you are, the more intensity you will be able to handle, the more vulnerable you will be able to be. Are you ready to feel vulnerable? Are you ready for the temperature to rise? Are you ready to get on your mat and get to know your Self?
Demonstrating an intermediate variation of the Shoulder Stand, with Plow Pose options, in one of our Shiva Power classes, in my recent Shiva Yoga training program in Qingdao, China. One of the great things about learning to teach with a translator is that you have to make sure you speak clearly and you have to slow down, so that they have time to translate what you are saying to the students, and the students have time to digest everything. I think teaching with a translator the last 4 yrs has helped my teaching in general. Embracing something new. What are you embracing right now? What is challenging for you? What are the new things you are learning by opening up to this new challenge? Did you notice initial resistance to the change and to your own growth?
Get off the roller coaster! Peace of mind doesn’t come from looking out. Happiness in the world is fleeting. Satisfaction is short lived. The yogis know that lasting peace comes from looking within. When you experience your Self in the stillness, when the mind is quiet, then you don’t want to go anywhere or do anything else. You are content, happy, right here, right now. You feel love and compassion for others and a connection to everything and everyone. Get off the roller coaster. Take the journey inward. Find peace.
Journal writing after class!
1. What are your favorite parts of your yoga practice? What parts of the practice are the easiest for you? What poses do you like? What poses are you good at doing?
2. What are the most challenging parts of your yoga practice? What are the hardest poses? What parts of the practice do you dislike the most?
3. Your teachers are the challenging parts of the practice. Your teachers are the poses you don't like. Your teachers are the poses that are hard for you to do.
4. What are these challenging parts of the practice teaching you about your practice?
5. What are your favorite things to do? What parts of your life are going really well? Who are the people in your life who you really like? What parts of your life are easy?
6. What parts of your life do you not like? What parts of your life are not going well? Who are the confrontational people in your life?
7. What are these confrontational people in your life teaching you about yourself? What are the challenging things in your life teaching you about yourself?
The challenging parts of your yoga practice will teach you the most about how you are out of balance. The confrontational people in your life will teach you the most about yourself. Look closely at the things that are hard for you to do. Look closely at the people who challenge you. What are you learning about yourself?
Yoga is a contradiction. It is two opposites coming together. It is movement and stillness. It is concentration and surrender, at the same time. Yoga is a journey from darkness to light. The journey leads you back to right here and right now. Yoga is stillness and movement, coming together. Yoga is the journey to the center of your Self, over and over again. Yoga says make an effort, to surrender and let go. It is the space between the breath, between this and that, where there is no inhale or exhale, no up or down, no left or right. Yoga is the journey towards the light, and the realization that you are the light. It is the realization that you are the wave in the ocean, and you are the ocean. Yoga is a contradiction.
It's 5:00am. I'm practicing on the roof at Soulshine. The sun starts coming up and I have this spectacular view overlooking the rice fields. I stop my practice for a minute to catch a picture. It's beautiful. I want to soak it up and hold onto this moment. I'm so grateful to be here. I'm so grateful for this morning and this day ahead. Without my yoga practice I would miss these moments. I would literally miss some of them because I'd be in bed sleeping. I'd miss others because I'd be moving too fast. I'd miss others because I'd be caught up in the noise in my head. Yoga helps you slow down. If you slow down enough you will find stillness. In the stillness you experience your inner light. In the stillness you change your relationship to your Self. This changes your relationship to everyone and everything around you. I'm so grateful to be right here, right now.
