Teaching at Yoga Vermont

I'm finally on the schedule, officially! The Summer 2009 Yoga Vermont schedule is firming up and my name is listed not once, but twice!

Kindergarten Yoga

I taught yoga to kindergartners at the school that my son will be going. I had a plan...which was immediately thrown out the window when the fire drill occurred. *sigh*. But then we got them back in and settled and began again. Then I realized in the movement, I lost my "outline" that also had the story on it. Luckily, I found it halfway through and I finished will a little more confidence. I did forget to do a breathing exercise, but in retrospect, that would have disrupted the flow. This is what we did...

Took a deep breath (through the mouth)
Deep breath through the nose. Reminded them to keep breathing through the nose while we did yoga.
Hands on ribs, felt rib cage open and close.
Coordinated head movement to breath
Standing poses: mountain, crescent moon, tree, eagle
Transition poses: cat, dog, gate, arm/leg balance
Seated poses: butterfly, turtle, frog, boat, bridge, relaxed
Flight of the arrow sequence: warrior 2, 1, 3
Read a story with poses, children did the poses when I came to it in the story.
In relaxed pose, a mom brought ducks. Put ducks on their chest so they could see them rise and fall with their breath.
Q&A

The activity that I wanted to do but forgot, was to blow a cotton ball around using a straw. Oh well. The kids were giddy enough, this would have not been a "relaxing" exercise.

The Return of Weekly Words

For a while, I lost the Weekly Words newsletter by Satchidananda in my inbox. I thought it may have been cancelled. I accidentally clicked on my spam folder last week; I saw one there! For some reason, I had a spam filter on it. I removed the filter, and now here is the return of Satchidanada's Weekly Words to my inbox. I am complete again.

The Best Form of Meditation
“Some people meditate on food, constantly. Even as they are eating their breakfast, they meditate on their lunch. And while eating their lunch, they think of dinner. They have nothing else to meditate upon. Some people meditate on money: how to make money, money, money. Some people think of the body: beauty, beauty, beauty, how to make the body more beautiful, day and night. That’s also one form of meditation. But the better level of meditation is to think: Who am I? Meditate on that. That is the best form of meditation. Try to know your Self. Meditate on that. Find your Self—who you really are."

Chair Yoga

It's been almost a year since I narrowed down my research paper topic for completing the 200-hr YVT instructor course. And I have changed my mind. I was so enthusiastic at first, but after teaching yoga, taking over the Seniors class, and having my FIL ask for yoga exercises for him to do where he does not have to sit on the floor...I thought chair yoga would be interesting.

Without any research, I think I could discuss yoga for wheelchair-bound adults, yoga for Seniors with limited physical ability using a chair as a prop, and yoga for office workers in a confined space (cubicle) or on an airplane. I would focus on how the chair is used in different situations.

Chaturanga and Chocolate

Over the last few months I have noticed that "potential energy" is being stored around my belly. I'm feeling a little heavier. No big deal. I thought that I'll just practice portion control and get more active. But then I do things like make a nice dark chocolate cake. Mmmm...it is hard to resist chocolate cake (aparigraha, aparigraha, aparigraha...).

Last night during practice, I felt it: my belly hit the floor during chaturanga dandasana. The first time, I thought, oh, my arms are getting weary. Be strong! Then it happened a few more times. Hm. Damn. My belly is dragging.

So, I have decided to make a bigger deal of "getting back in shape." Right after I finish that delicious chocolate cake.

Sri K. Pattabhi Jois

Sri K. Pattabhi Jois passed away today.

He leaves behind an incredible legacy of yoga teaching. He touched so many lives although he never met most of them. Although his physical body his gone, his spirit stays within all of us. I hope his family will find peace in their sorrow.

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.

Universe in a Single Atom

Wow. It will take me a long time to read this book. I took it on vacation, but it was way to heavy for such a lighthearted excursion from reality.

I do like the analogy that science and spirituality are but two fingers on the hand of humanity.

Relating chakras to Maha Gayatri

While learning the Maha Gayatri last July, Kathy talked about how it relates to each of the seven chakras.

I thought about this again recently, and decided to take a look into chakras a little bit again, as a reminder, using the book Chakras: Energy Centers of Transformation by Harish Johari and relating them to the Gayatri. The gayatri addresses the ruling planes (lokas) of each chakra as follows.

Om Bhuh
- refers to the first chakra at the root (mul) of our spine, muladhara, which is responsible for the physical plane: Bhu Loka
Om Bhuvaha
- refers to the second chakra in the reproductive region, svadhishthana, which is responsible for the astral plane: Bhurvar Loka
Om Savaha
- refers to the third chakra at the navel region, manipura, which is responsible for the celestial plane: Sva Loka.
Om Mahaha
- refers to the fourth chakra at the heart, anahata, which is responsible for the plane of balance: Maha Loka.
Om Janaha
- refers to the fifth chakra at the throat, vishuddha, which is responsible for the human plane (where great spiritual darkness ends): Jana Loka.
Om Tapaha
- refers to the sixth chakra at the third eye, ajna, which is responsible for the plane of austerity or penance: Tapas Loka.
Om Satyam
- refers to the seventh chakra at the crown of the skull, sahasrara, which is responsible for the reality or truth plane: Satyam Loka.

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

Effort in Asana

Everything in life has equilibrium, the “happy medium”. I believe this is also true for the amount of effort one places on their asana practice. Effort may be in the form of the physical strength necessary to keep muscles and bones steady in a posture. Effort may also be exerted to control the breath and ensuring long, deep, inhales match long, deep, exhales while practicing. And effort may be exercised to still random thoughts and in steering the mind to focus and concentrate during practice.

If I do not put enough effort into my practice, my posture wobbles, my breath is uneven or my mind wanders and I lose touch with my practice and my self. If I exert too much effort, I could tear a muscle, get dizzy or forget where I am and what I am doing. Although, it is very rare (if ever?) that I would exert too much effort on stilling my thoughts—my mind is a very wild place that needs much effort to control.

Another point that is also true of effort is that it changes each time you practice. The effort I put into the physical asana when I began practicing yoga several years ago was very weak compared to the effort I exert now, mostly because my body was untrained, or I was unsure of what I was doing. My effort then was on watching the teacher, trying to see what she was doing and copy it. Or I would back off on a pose because I did not feel good in it. Now that I know more about the poses after practicing them for years, I exercise less effort on how “correct” the pose looks and more effort on how I can settle into and enjoy the posture. The focus of my effort in asana has shifted.

I also exert more effort in engaging muscles and bandhas and also more effort into controlling my breath than I did when I began. Again, practice makes it easier, but as my practice matures, I discover new things about my practice to which I explore.

For instance, I recently began focusing more on my lungs. I learned more about the lungs and how they work, so I have begun to put effort into feeling and investigating my lungs. I learned that the lungs have three lobes. While lying in bed one night, I took several long breaths, filling and emptying my lungs. I realized that there were two very subtle pauses in both the full inhale and full exhale, separating my breath into three sections. It was like driving a car over small cracks in the road—if you did not see them and know they were there before, you otherwise would never have noticed the light "tap" of the wheels over them.

I also learned about pulmonary pressure and how the diaphragm works. The diaphragm also has a happy medium. Full inhale creates effort on the diaphragm to contract, and when it relaxes, it brings the lungs to a neutral breathing area. Effort on the ribcage muscles (I think) to contract allows the lungs to exhale completely, then it relaxes back to equilibrium.

Too much effort, too little effort? It is a question to apply on effort in asana from day-to-day. One day I may find it easy to do a pose, the next day difficult! It depends on my energy and how my body, mind and breath are tuned together. Every time I practice, I adjust levels of effort to ensure the equilibrium is maintained.

Memorizing Sanskrit: Standing Sequence

Yesterday, I spent time memorizing the Sanskrit names of the poses in the standing sequence in order. I used David Swenson's book to look at the parts of the names (i.e. pada = foot, hasta = hand, uttana = intense). Once I recognized the patterns, I could put the names together. I said them out loud over and over. By the evening I was able to stumble through without looking at the book for hints.

This morning, I went through them again. Then, in practice this evening in the studio, before I did each pose, I whispered the name into my hands. Here they are in order from my memory:

• Padangustasana
• Padahastasana
• Uttitatrikonasana
• Parivrittatrikonasana
• Uttitaparsvakonasana
• Parivrittaparsvakonasana
  
• Prasaritapadattonasana (4)
• Parsvottanasana
• Uttitahastapadangustasana (4)
• Ardabadapadmasana
• Utkatasana
• Virabadrasana (2)
  

Asana Saturday Session

Today was another workshop with Kathy for YVT Teacher Training. We started off with an Ashtanga second series class. Kathy asked if anyone would be willing to teach Ashtanga Primary series for Scott who was not feeling well. I hesitated a moment; Shannon, another teacher who teaches Ashtanga was there. I expected she would cover. But she did not speak up so I said I would do it. Kathy was grateful.

When I got to the class only one person showed. I was very happy to take it. We had, basically, a personal session. I assisted her when I could and showed her a few things to try. She knew the series well enough, but it was a challenge for me to get it in the right order.

When I came back, another student had given a presentation on anatomy.

We did some partner yoga/acrobatics for fun.