Holding onto the Zen

Cali Coast taken by Anuj Malhotra

With a view like this it is easy to find zen and remain peaceful.  You almost feel silly not being mindful, aware and present.

Sadly, the second you are back in line at the airport - the shoulders start tensing, the breathing shallows and well serenity has checked-out.

So how do you remain zen as a modern day yogi?

1. Find time - the day is long and even longer when we are stressed.  We may not always have 60-90minutes for a yoga class - but we do have 5 minutes to enjoy a cup of tea in silence or 3 minutes in the car for Kapal Baati breathing.  Traffic jams or commuting time can sometimes provide the best times for breathing and simple stretches.
2. Journal - we hear it often but journaling has a great way to bring back presence to what is really important and ways to clear the clutter.  Reinforce positive affirmations each entry.  We often get stuck in labels - being someone's spouse, friend, employee.  Go back to basics - what makes you at your core unique, beautiful and worthy.
3. Diet - you are what you eat, right?  Swap the coffee for a simple green juice or the chocolate for some fruit.  Make one conscious change to empower your health.
4. Laugh - life does not have to be so serious - and nor do the lessons of life be a somber task.  Often our best lessons are our "mistakes" and our ability to laugh at ourselves.

As modern-day yogis, we balance many stresses in one day.  Recognize that finding serenity is not a one off occurrence  just on a vacation or a retreat but that each day many opportunities for tranquility arise.  Begin to avail the resources and opportunities for happiness around you and begin to shift the vision of your day.

Namaste

Namaste is a greeting used in many yoga classes and studios.  Sometimes we know what it means and sometimes afraid to ask?

Well here goes - insight and and etiquette around Namaste!

Namaste is a customary salutation to greet one another upon meeting or leaving.  It is a greeting used in every day life amongst those of Indian descent.  You will often find while saying "Namaste" the hands are brought to the heart center in prayer with a slight bow.  This is also known as Anjali Mudra.

There is no religious affiliation with the greeting.  Rather, the hands at prayer are a gesture of of love and respect - also highlighting the common bond connecting each of us.

Literally namaste is translated to mean, "the light or soul in me honors the light or soul in you".

Phonetically, it is pronounced "nuh-mus-tay."
nuh - rhymes with 'duh'
mus - rhymes with 'bus'
tay - rhymes with 'bay'

In yoga class, it is a way for a teacher to show respect and gratitude towards his/her students and in turn students towards their teacher.

We end class with the greeting Namaste at heart center.  The gesture is does not honor any one or anything.  Rather it is a meditation technique to honor one's-self. 

The hands at heart center bring awareness to your breath and heartbeat.  In that moment, each one of us honors our body, mind and spirit for committing to the practice.  In that moment, we surrender honor the soul within and thus strengthening the opening of the heart chakra.

There should be no pressure or obligation to say namaste.  More important is the intention to honor within and each other on and off the mat.

With heartfelt gratitude for your continued support and presence at Soul Power Yoga
- Namaste - 

Kids: My Most Meaningful Teachers

I started yoga because of my sister, Cristal. Being ill had taken so much out of her and going to yoga everyday helped her feel strong when her body was weak.  So I thought "OK let's try."

My first class was a Bikram class. Bikram Yoga is the original Hot Yoga - an intense 90 minute class in extreme heat temperatures.  I couldn't breathe within the first few seconds of stepping into the room as the air was so thick.  I was nervous, here I was trying something new and what if I wasn't good? I'm not the "athletic" type. I think I made it through the first class and then was on the floor about 30% of my second class.  But I kept going. First just to prove I could do it and then something happened - I started liking it! Feeling my body change, become stronger in both mind and spirit as well. Then I started branching out to try different classes and types of yoga - Iyengar, Ashtanga, Hatha, Power, Vinyasa. 
  

I was still hungry to learn more and decided to embark on my own teacher training, as Cristal returned from hers so invigorated and enlivened.  This time I was following in Cristal's footsteps :)

I trained with Seane Corne and Baron Baptiste. I have always enjoyed working with children.  As I found yoga so empowering for accepting and celebrating myself - I thought it would be a great medium to empower and celebrate children. 

I signed up for Radiant Child Yoga Program Levels 1 and 2, a nationally recognized children's training program that lasted 18 months.  I wanted to ensure I received the most in-depth training.  I did an intensive on teacher training with Shakta Kaur Khalsa to also become a facilitator for training adults to teach children.

After learning from these remarkable and experienced instructors, I had no idea I was about to meet my most humbling teachers.

The kids amaze me and energize me after a long work week.  They try all of the poses, make up all sorts of new poses, and help each other. They are open to trying anything and everything.

The beauty about kids is their innocence, their fearlessness, their innate sense of joy.  Hearing a 6 year old say " you know I have too many activities and I have to tell mommy that I must have 3 days of doing nothing during the week; I have to make time for me."

For me a critical part about teaching their class is making sure each one leaves feeling good about themselves - body, mind and soul. I listen to them, each one of them, tell me what happened during school that week and laugh with them as we move through class. The "trick" to a great yoga class with kids - have 100 poses in mind and "go with the flow" - the kids flourish in a space where their creativity and authenticity is spotlighted.
Each class, whether it is one with a 10 week old baby, to a child with ADD, a children's birthday party or a child with special needs reinforces the basics of yoga to me.  Acceptance, peacefulness, and just being themselves without filter or fear.  They love being unique and celebrating each others' uniqueness. 

Now I am in my 8th year of teaching children yoga and with each class I have gratitude for having the opportunity to help kids see the best in themselves and in turn the best in me. I am blessed and continue to learn from them.

Namaste
Pooja

Take Flight with Arm Balances!

Here is usually what happens.  You are grooving in your flow and finding a great harmony of body and breath.  Feeling good in your body, mind is clear and starting to feel like you can flow in class without being a breath behind or unsure of the poses and their names. 

Then it happens - class goes into an arm balance!  You stop cold - no longer feeling strong your body, mind is racing - starting to even go negative and your strong ujjayi breathing quickly becomes fight or flight!

What is it about arm balances that can totally change the nature of class?  I remember I went to a crowded NYC class and happened to be in the middle of the room.  Class had just started maybe about 2 minutes in we go into crow and then from there headstand.  I freeze and want to move to the wall.  How can you when you are jammed mat to mat!  I look up from my mat and everyone - I mean every single person is looking at me upside down from their headstands.  The instructor, Dharma Mittra, himself, comes over to me.  How could he not - I was the only person in the room not inverted.  He so lovingly was like "just put your head down and go".  He even tried to set me up so I could take flight but I couldn't do it.  He so fluidly gave the cues and it was as if my body was in quicksand.  We moved on in class but my entire practice I never got that euphoric feeling of "I feel good" as I could not even do the opening sequence.  It created this feeling of not being good enough and a doubt of what was I doing in this class.

It helped me start looking at the roadblocks I had in place for arm balances.  I had thought it was only those with toned arms and a strong third chakra that could invert or lift themselves. 

Actually though, arm balances, provide a place of adventure.  Arm balances are NOT announcement to the world of how much physical strength you have or even worse, do not have.  They are not an announcement of who is the most advanced in class and who are the newer students.  Instead, they are a time in practice when we break from the free flowing to explore the possibility of our bodies and minds.  We explore strength, humor, possibility, concentration and surrender.  

What defines our practice is not just our physical capacity but the intention with which we carry out each breath.  Jumping up into a forearm balance with hunched shoulders, collapsed spinal alignment and shallow breathing is not a demonstration of experience.  Experience is in concentrated lifts with awareness of breath, presence of alignment and determination to try.  It is not about holding the handstand, forearm balance or crow but rather giving yourself a chance to see your potential.

When we shift our vision on arm balances, we see that they really do provide an opportunity on our mat to stop avoiding obstacles and challenges.  Off of our mat, we may easily just walk away from difficult moments or tasks.  What arm balances provide is space to actually step up and breath by breath breakaway the roadblock of our own growth.  

The next time in class you have a choice between an arm balance and another pose pause and really identify why it is you are not trying.  If it a voice of doubt, fear or negative thought - exhale it out - and see what happens when you try.  Laugh if you fall, smile when you stumble and celebrate when a toe leaves the floor.  Enjoy the road of adventure bumps and all!

--

Namaste
Cristal

Please keep in mind, alignment and form is highly critical for any arm balance.  Take your time to setup and exit an arm balance.  If you are ever unsure don't hesitate to ask.

Boundaries

As spring awakens our natural instincts for growth, the other side of the lesson is understanding our boundaries.  Our growth is not just measured in what moves us forward but also how we understand what situations are no longer healthy for us. 

Spring time allergies can be the worst and a subtle reminder of how our body is constantly responding to life around us.  Food, dust, the dreaded pollen, mold, may all trigger our allergic reactions and we take refuge on our mat, with our neti pot and other treatments.

But at a deeper level, it also gives us a moment to take a look at "what else are we allergic to?". 

As we become more aware of how we receive life, we can find certain people or places are toxic and how even certain behaviors are toxic for us.   This requires a different method of detoxing. 

If we were able to move to a desolated island than maybe we would bask in freedom of all that triggers our woes.  But alas, we are modern-day yogis!  In the same way we cannot permanently remove pollen, dust or other allergic triggers - neither can we always remove toxic people and places. 

What we can choose in both situations though is how we protect ourselves and build our physical and mental immunity to these triggers that upset our well-being.  Our health is not just physical - but rather comprised of a holistic landscape of our mental, emotional and spiritual well-being.

Begin to observe yourself without judgement to which situations create irritation, discomfort and internal mental disease.  The same way pollen triggers internal inflammation - so do our toxic behaviors and exposure to negative energy. 

Begin to identify people, places and behaviors that are no longer healthy.  Start taking responsibility for your role in changing how you let them impact your health.  "NO" is a powerful tool in your well-being.  NO is not always restrictive -but sometimes a necessary tool to set down your boundaries.  Boundaries are healthy because they reflect an aware soul who understands their potential, their places of growth and how to delicately balance the two. 

If we are allergic to a certain food, we have no qualms of announcing to the world we cannot eat certain foods.  How come them when we are suffering from toxic energy from behaviors, people or places we hesitate to call it out? 

Boundaries are not only signals to the others of what we are comfortable with but more importantly they give voice to our role in our well-being.  Take back your full mind, body and spiritual well-being by awakening your inner voice of health.

Spring Awakening

Spring is a beautiful time of renewal and growth.  This year the growth may be pleasant or unpleasant.  Change that is long awaited is greeted with open arms and change that is sudden or unexpected can be met with much resistance.  Both are reflections of evolution.  Whether we like it or not life is moving forward - what is true in this moment is not true the next.  We are not defined by what exists in this moment.  Tomorrow our job may be different, our health may change and our relationships reflect new faces.  We get so attached to what is in this moment that we may lose sight that it can all change in an instant.  So what does that mean?

Two major fundamentals of yoga arise in these moments.  Embrace the now and be present now for it is all that we know to be true.  Second, what is constant is the core of our being.  Who we are at the core of our being is ever-present in any ray of change.  Our resilience, our determination, our will, our spirit - although it may be tested and challenged it is our north star in any moment of change.

Normal is constantly changing - allow yourself to mourn the last chapter and grieve the darkness sometimes buried in the winter.  Awaken to spring, awaken to growth, awaken to your true self.