Junior Yogis at Project Inside Out

Last week, I volunteered at Porters Point Project Inside Out to lead a yoga workshop for four days. In each workshop with eight children, I had to fill up about 4 hours of time. Although we were in a tent, it was still hot on some days, and stormy on others. So needless to say, flexibility was KEY. Kids can't just do poses for four hours. Attention span, physical endurance, behavior issues all came into play. I have developed a bag of tricks I'd like to share with you all.

Each child had a yoga mat, and I started off with some basic warm ups not just to limber up, but to remind them of their "personal space". With arms and legs spread, we swept our arms around in an imaginary bubble. If two "bubbles" touched, the kids rearranged to make sure they had enough space.

We then began to go through poses. I have read many different kids' yoga books to come up with 36 poses that can all be named after animals or objects. The reason I did this is because I have a bag of little plastic animals and shapes that the kids use to learn from. They closes their eyes, reach into the bag, draw one out, then we learn that pose. Those animals are also good for Savasana breathing at the end: I place one animal on each child's chest and have them watch the animal rise and fall with their breath.

We did modified Sun Salutations. We did handstands using the baseball backstop. We did partner poses. We also did the three Warrior poses in a series I call "Flight of the Arrow" (I changed the names to "Archer" poses). We start in Warrior 2, "put your hands together in front, and draw back your bow". Then we "make the arrow" by putting our arms up into Warrior 1. "Place the arrow in the bow" (bend forward with arms parallel to ground, bent over knee) "then let the arrow fly!" by bringing the back leg up into Warrior 3.

One thing that amazed me was the fact that almost every child could do Crow by the end of the workshop. And it was, by far, the most favored pose. As I said, poses are physically demanding, and frustrating for some children who are still learning balance and coordination. That is where some hands on stuff comes in!

The first activity we did was to review the poses using marshmallows and toothpicks. One large marshmallow, 6 mini marshmallows, and 9 toothpicks. After we assembled, the kids arranged the figure into yoga poses that they learned. The best part, of course, was eating the marshmallows at the end!


The second activity was coloring mandalas. I bought the stained-glass mandala coloring book by Dover publishing. Using markers, the kids had some quiet time coloring their mandalas to take home.

Other things I did was teaching them about breathing, placing their hands on their chest to feel their heart, ribs, belly and how they move while breathing. I also made up a story with words that were the yoga poses they learned. As I said each yoga pose word, they were to show me that pose. I.e. "Then the EAGLE landed on the TREE."

This is one of the most rewarding yoga workshops I have been, and probably will ever be, a part of.

Brahmaviharas

Treat those who are happy with friendliness
Treat those who are unhappy with compassion
Treat those who are virtuous with supreme joy
Treat those who are wicked with indifference

About a year ago, I was in class and Kathy mentioned these Buddhist "sublime attitudes". I wrote some of it down, then went home to Google it (completely missing the fact that they were in my Yoga Sutras!). I found nothing, punching in terms that were delivering other results. I decided to come back to it again later.

And, as life does, it came back to me at a time I needed it most. Dealing with frustration, trying hard to control and detach from emotion...it was hard to breathe! And there they were. Like a key to finding peace of mind. I read them over and over thinking, how can I remember these in the future? So, I thought I would share them with you all.

In Buddhism, this is the Brahmaviharas: the Four Immeasureables. It is discussed in Yoga Sutra 1.33: "In relationships, the mind becomes purified by cultivating feelings of friendliness towards those who are happy, compassion for those who are suffering, goodwill towards those who are virtuous, and indifference or neutrality towards those we perceive as wicked or evil."(maitri karuna mudita upekshanam sukha duhka punya apunya vishayanam bhavanatah chitta prasadanam)

To break the sanskrit down, I found this direct translation:

• maitri = friendliness, pleasantness, lovingness
• karuna = compassion, mercy
• mudita = gladness, goodwill
• upekshanam = acceptance, equanimity, indifference, disregard, neutrality
• sukha = happy, comfortable, joyous
• duhka = pain, misery, suffering, sorrow
• punya = virtuous, meritorious, benevolent
• apunya = non-virtuous, vice, bad, wicked, evil, bad, demerit, non-meritorious,
• vishayanam = regarding those subjects, in relation to those objects
• bhavanatah = by cultivating habits, by constant reflection, developing attitude, cultivating, impressing on oneself
• chitta = mind field, consciousness
• prasadanam = purified, clear, serene, pleasant, pacified, undisturbed, peaceful, calm

Yoga is the evenness of mind

I began reading the Bhagavad Gita in August. In September, I opened up an emotional floodgate. My svadhyaya was taken in a new direction, away from yoga books. I was, and am still, unsure where that new track is taking me. But I'm trying to do explore it with the utmost care and personal awareness that I think I can extend. Meanwhile, now that I am getting a grip around my new path, I picked up the Gita again.

And, of course, Self-realization is the second chapter (the first being the one that describes the setting of the Gita). It's the chapter that helps set up the rest of the Gita, starting with learning to detach from desire and aversion, and control the senses of the body. And break from Ego. This Summer, I feel as though I was getting there. Taking steps to be more involved in my community, to concentrate on the things important in my life. Keeping my mind steady, calm.

Now, I will continue to strive for Self-realization, but it seems I need to get into my Ego a bit and enjoy some kind of desire to live my life right now. My mind is not steady, but I come to the conclusion that I am experiencing waves...like of yin and yang...too much of something I was not ready for exploded into a new mindset. Once that paradigm is undercontrol, I can refocus back to what I was doing so well before. And now with a new awareness that I will strive to act on my desires in a way that celebrates the Universal Self.

Love, Rescue Me

A song I have enjoyed in my high school days, and am enjoying again that I heard it sung by a young church choir in Ireland. Writen and performed by U2, inspirational in its own way.

Love rescue me
Come forth and speak to me
Raise me up
And don't let me fall.
No man is my enemy
My own hands imprison me.
Love rescue me.

Many strangers have I met
On the road to my regret
Many lost who seek to find themselves in me.
They ask me to reveal
The very thoughts they would conceal.
Love, rescue me.

And the sun in the sky
Makes a shadow of you and I
Stretching out as the sun sinks in the sea.
I'm here without a name
In the palace of my shame
I said, love, rescue me.

In the cold mirror of a glass
I see my reflection pass
I see the dark shades of what I used to be.
I see the purple of her eyes
The scarlet of my lies.
Love, rescue me.

Yeah, though I walk
In the valley of the shadow
Yet, I will fear no evil.
I have cursed thy rod and staff
They no longer comfort me.
Love, rescue me.

Sha la la la etc.
I said love, love, rescue me.

Yeah, I'm here without a name
In the palace of my shame
I said love, rescue me.

I've conquered my past
The future is here at last
I stand at the entrance to a new world I can see.
The ruins to the right of me
Will soon have lost sight of me.
Love, rescue me.

Beyond your self

"A human being is part of the whole, called by us "universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty." -Albert Einstein

Easwaran's comments: None of us see life as it is, the world as it is. We all see life as we are. We look at others through our own likes and dislikes, desires and interests. It is this separatist outlook that fragments life for us - man against woman, community against community, country against country. Yet the mystics of all religions assure us on the strength of their own experience, if only we throw away this fragmenting instrument of observation, we shall see all life as an indivisible whole.

I am continuously amazed at Albert Einstein's insight into existence despite the contribution he made to physics that overrides humanitarianism.

Partner Yoga Poses

I was browsing Sugar's blog recently and found a bunch of nice partner yoga poses. I want to remember them: http://www.fitsugar.com/tag/Partner+Yoga

Esp. for the Girl Scout yoga I am teaching in a few weeks.

More methods of Yoga

Found an email Kathy sent last year. More forms of yoga you can practice...although I will have to research some more to understand them all (ie taraka yoga?)

• karma yoga: the path of self-transcending action
• bhakti yoga: the path of self-transcending love-devotion
• jnana yoga: the path of wisdom
• raja yoga: the royal path of meditation
• hatha yoga: the forceful path of bodily transformation
• mantra yoga: the path of numinous sound
• taraka yoga: the path of light
• tantra yoga: the path of ecstatic realization
• sahaja yoga: the path of spontaneity

Methods of yoga

• Jnana yoga:Yoga of Knowledge. Followers use will and discrimination to dis-identify from the body, mind and senses until they know they are nothing but the Self.
• Bhakti yoga: Yoga of Love. Followers identify with love and devotion to God to find the Self.
• Karma yoga: Yoga of Action. Followers dissolve identify with everything in life, going beyond the finite self, and the body and mind, to discover the Self.
• Raja yoga: Yoga of Meditation. Followers discipline the body, mind and senses until mind fluctuations are stilled and they merge into the Self.
  

Bhagavad Gita

I have recently begun to read the Bhagavad Gita translated by Eknath Easwaran. According to his web site, Easwaran "is respected around the world as the originator of passage meditation and an authentic guide to timeless wisdom. His method is a practical approach that fits naturally into any faith, philosophy, or lifestyle, enabling us to bring universal ideals into daily life."

I am still reading his introduction. He is setting the reader up to be able to understand the ideas presented in and teachings of the Bhagavad Gita. He discusses the background of the Gita, from the Upanaishads, and explains concepts of Inidian/Hindu spirituality such as atman, brahman, maya, karma, and dharma. He also discusses the yoga psychology that weaves throughout the Gita such as seperating purusha, spirit, and prakriti, everything else including mind and matter and the forces that bring prakriti together.

I am now reading a section that describes the essence of the Gita. In this section, Easwaran says the Gita is "a text book on the supreme science of yoga." But, he declares, yoga has many meanings. He defines four of them: jnana yoga, bhakti yoga, karma yoga and raja yoga. I have read of these many times before and glossed over them, seeming to be out of my ability to grasp. But either I have finally come to a point where I finally have comprehension, or Easwaran just makes good examples I can understand. No matter which yoga you follow, the Gita offers something for everyone. The essence? Selfless action.

A few more pages to read on the higher image of the Self, and faith and spiritual evolution will conclude the introduction and I will delve into the battle Arjuna must fight and the fundamental answers Krishna provides his questions on life.

Feeding the Dog: new asana sequence

Yesterday, while browsing the handbook Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha, I came across a series of poses that included vajrasana, balasana, and adho mukha svanasa. I wanted to create something that would link the breath and motion with each exhale and inhale. I came up with this gentle sequence below. I call it "Feeding the Dog" as in giving energy toward the downward dog.

1. Inhale to Vajrasana (or Virasana)
2. Exhale to Balasana with extended arms above head, palms on floor
3. Inhale to Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (or Bhujangasana), roll toes under then
4. Exhale to Adho Mukha Svanasana, bend knees to floor and repeat
   

Notes

• Poses flow so that you should not need to change placement of feet and hands. They should land in the same place in every cycle.
• In vajrasana, your feet are together, toes touch, and your buttocks are rested on your heels. In virasana, the legs are open, feet spread slightly to allow buttocks to rest on the floor. Which one you choose will change whether your balasana is a deeper hip stretch, or you are rested up on your legs.
• If chosing bhujangasana, practitioners may push up onto hands and knees before pressing up into adho mukha svanasana.
  

Yoga on the Beach

This morning I woke my kids up early to go to Oakledge park where Kathy and the 7-day intensive class was practicing yoga. I shot video and pictures and put them together in this video which was a practice run for me to try and put together a chanting video.

"The Truth about Bottled Water"

I liked this article on Yahoo! main page today because it listed everything I did not like about bottled water...price, demand for oil, toxins in water, waste....etc.

The Truth about Bottled Water
Imagine you’ve just been given a choice: You have to drink from one of two containers. One container is a cup from your own kitchen, and it contains a product that has passed strict state, federal and local guidelines for cleanliness and quality. Oh, and it’s free. The second container comes from a manufacturing plant somewhere, and its contents—while seemingly identical to your first choice—have not been subjected to the same strict national and local standards. It costs approximately four times more than gasoline. These products both look and taste nearly identical.

Which do you choose?

If you chose beverage A, congratulations: You just saved yourself a whole lot of money, and, perhaps, even contaminants, too. But if you picked beverage B, then you’ll be spending hundreds of unnecessary dollars on bottled water this year. Sure, bottled water is convenient, trendy, and may well be just as pure as what comes out of your tap. But it’s hardly a smart investment for your pocketbook, your body or our planet. Eat This, Not That! decided to take a closer look at what’s behind the pristine images and elegant-sounding names printed on those bottles.

• You may actually be drinking tap water.Case in point: Dasani, a Coca-Cola product. Despite its exotic-sounding name, Dasani is simply purified tap water that’s had minerals added back in. For example, if your Dasani water was bottled at the Coca-Cola Bottling Company in Philadelphia, you’re drinking Philly tap water. But it’s not the only brand of water that relies on city pipes to provide its product. About 25 percent of all bottled water is taken from municipal water sources, including Pepsi’s Aquafina.
• Bottled water isn’t always pure. Scan the labels of the leading brands and you see variations on the words “pure” and “natural” and “pristine” over and over again. And when a Cornell University marketing class studied consumer perceptions of bottled water, they found that people thought it was cleaner, with less bacteria. But that may not actually be true. For example, in a 4-year review that included the testing of 1,000 bottles of water, the Natural Resources Defense Council—one the country’s most ardent environmental crusaders—found that “about 22 percent of the brands we tested contained, in at least one sample, chemical contaminants at levels above strict state health limits.”
• It’s not clear where the plastic container ends and the drink begins. Turns out, when certain plastics are heated at a high temperature, chemicals from the plastics may leach into container’s contents. So there’s been a flurry of speculation recently as to whether the amounts of these chemicals are actually harmful, and whether this is even a concern when it comes to water bottles—which aren’t likely to be placed in boiling water or even a microwave. While the jury is still out on realistic health ramifications, it seems that, yes, small amounts of chemicals from PET water bottles such as antimony—a semi-metal that’s thought to be toxic in large doses—can accumulate the longer bottled water is stored in a hot environment. Which, of course, is probably a good reason to avoid storing bottled water in your garage for six months—or better yet, to just reach for tap instead.
• Our country’s high demand for oil isn’t just due to long commutes. Most water bottles are composed of a plastic called polyethylene terepthalate (PET). Now, to make PET, you need crude oil. Specifically, 17 million barrels of oil are used in the production of PET water bottles ever year, estimate University of Louisville scientists. No wonder the per ounce cost of bottled water rivals that of gasoline. What’s more, 86 percent of 30 billion PET water bottles sold annually are tossed in the trash, instead of being recycled, according to data from the Container Recycling Institute. That’s a lot of waste—waste that will outlive you, your children, and your children’s children. You see, PET bottles take 400 to 1000 years to degrade. Which begs the question: If our current rate of consumption continues, where will we put all of this discarded plastic?
  

Yogis of Tibet pt 2

I finally finished watching the Yogis of Tibet. The second half of the film shed some light on the secluded yogis and offered more interviews with monks and nuns and even The Dalai Lama. Several were shown offering their interpretation of the meaning of "what is a yogi?" Answers varied, but all loosely came back to being one who follows a path toward finding his or her true self.

I did not get the impression that Tibetan yogis practiced mush asana...more that they retreated to the mountains and did a lot of meditation. Many participated in some elaborate types of kriya or other posturing rituals to show devotion to the Divine. The film showed yogis talking about the health benefits of certain posture and rites; the narrorator always said something about the fact that the yogi has very reluctant and cautioned people not to copy the actions without a true guide or they might cause themselves harm.

The other message of the film focussed on how the Tibetan monks and nuns were able to keep their compassion knowing how the Chinese brutally destroyed their home and their people. It just seems so unfair for this invasion to have occured to the most peaceful people in the world. I have thought about this, too. Esp when I learn more about The Dalai Lama. He says your enemy is your greatest teacher...you learn patience and compassion from finding your way to work with your enemy. A young Monk in the film said that it might be because he is young, but he still can not fogive the Chinese, and he is too young and did not witness the atrocities.

Another nun (Western) said that if it weren't for the Chinese going to Tibet and driving people from their homes, the rest of the world may never have had the chance to participate in the religion and culture. The Chinese went to Tibet to eradicate their culture and Religion, but instead, drove the issue to the highest levels of visibility throughout the world and brought a great amount of attention to Tibet and its people.

Yogis of Tibet

I started watching Yogis of Tibet. It is a film intended to communicate and preserve the life of Tibetan yogis, who, since the invasion of the Chinese, have dwindled in numbers and begun to lose some of the tradition that has been strong for a thousand years. My children have been watching it with me, but, as their minds wander, so does my ability to watch due to their activities. So far, the film has presented a brief history of Tibet from the time they were spiritually united by a Buddhist monk to the Chinese invasion, and interviews of yogis and monks about their experiences of the invasion. It has just started to interview yogis in retreat...I must pause.

Composting

I have wanted to compost for a long time. More and more I find people who are doing it. I just found this on the Chittenden Solid Waste District Web site: http://www.cswd.net/composting/

An affordable composting system! And lots of great info on Composting.

Bio at YVT

My Bio is also available on the Yoga Vermont instructor directory.

Primary Series in Sanskrit

OK...here goes what I memorized last night:

• dandasana
• paschimottanasana a,b,c
• purvottanasana
• ardha badha padma paschimottansana
  
• trianga mukhaikapada paschimotanasana
• janu sirsasana a,b,c
  
• mariachyasana a,b,c,d
• navasana
• bhujapidasana
• kurmasana
• supta kurmasana
• garba pindasana (roll around 9 times)
  
• kukkutasana
• badha konasana a,b
  
• upavishta konasana a,b
  
• supta konasana
• supta padangusthasana a,b,c
  
• chakrasana
• ubhaya padangusthasana
• urdhva mukha paschimottanasana
• setu bandhasana
  

Mother Teresa

I recently checked out of the children section of our library the DK Books' Biography of Mother Teresa. I know, pretty lame for a learned adult to use something so remedial. But really, I just wanted the facts. And DK books do a good job of presenting facts.

Now that I have ready this, it has given me ideas for other books to look into reading about Mother Teresa. Now that I know who she was and what she did, I plan to look into A Simple Plan and No Greater Love.

Surya Namaskar B in Sanskrit

How silly...easy to add a few steps for surya namaskar B in sanskrit.

1. Tadasana (mountain pose)
2. Utkatasana (fierce pose)
3. Utanasana (intense stretch, forward bend)
4. "Flat Back"
5. Chaturanga Dandasana (four-limbed staff/spine pose)
   
6. Urdva Mukha Svanasana (upward-facing dog)
7. Adho Mukha Svanasana (downward-facing dog)
8. Virabadrasana A, Right (warrior A on right side)
   
9. Chaturanga Dandasana
   
10. Urdva Mukha Svanasana
    
11. Adho Mukha Svanasana
    
12. Virabadrasana A, Left (warrior A on left side)
    
13. Chaturanga Dandasana
14. Urdva Mukha Svanasana
15. Adho Mukha Svanasana
16. "Flat Back"
17. Utanasana
18. Utkatasana
19. Tadasana

Surya Namaskar A in Sanskrit

As I am trying to learn poses in sanskrit, I decided to memorize surya namaskara A in sanskrit.

1. Tadasana (mountain pose)
2. Urdva Hastasana (upward salute)
3. Utanasana (intense stretch, forward bend)
4. "Flat Back" (can't find the sanskrit for this, Iyengar describes this as the first of two utanasanas, the second one being the forward bend done in step 3)
5. Chaturanga Dandasana (four-limbed staff/spine pose) a low plank pose
6. Urdva Mukha Svanasana (upward-facing dog)
7. Adho Mukha Svanasana (downward-facing dog)
8. "Flat Back" (ie utanasana "A")
9. Utanasana
10. Urdva Hastasana
11. Tadasana