Ariadne Greenberg/ Transformations in yoga

I normally only post things I have written.  I did not write this.  I don't have a citation for the specific words, because I have been chanting this for a very long time.  It is, however, a very old practice, and there are variations of it that have been used for centuries.  If you want a bit more info please read Jack Kornfield's excellent book:  "A Beginner's Guide to Meditation"

This is also already posted on my FB yoga page, if you 'like' that you have probably already seen this.

I hope your day is joyful.

Before settling oneself down for a meditation practice it is really helpful to have a physical practice, even a short one. Kind of in the same way taking a shower or bath or cleaning the teeth make the outer body feel better, by washing away the dust of the day, exercise helps reset the nervous system. We reduce circulating stress hormones, stretch muscles and fascia, and prepare the body for rest so it isn't asking for so much attention while we are turning our attention elsewhere. I call it the puppy scratching at the door. Let it out before you lie down. This is why shavasana is at the end of a yoga practice. The practice makes us ready for it.

Please do not feel you have to do a full 60 or 90 minute practice. You can take a walk, or stretch the legs, spine, and neck and shoulders, or play with your own puppy for a bit.

Now bring yourself into a physically comfortable space. Partly this means the external place you intend to practice. Ideally it is quiet and free of distractions. If you are surrounded by sights and sounds and smells it is much harder to still the mind. As your practice deepens you will find it easier to find the still center even in the midst of the storm, but learning to deepen the practice works better where we can reduce the amount of external sensory stimulation.

I think sound is especially important. One can close one's eyes, but ear plugs are only marginally helpful as they substitute one sensation for another.

The other part of this is the inner comfort. As I say to my students, if your leg is kickin you in the side while you are sitting it will be a lot harder to relax. Shavasana is traditional in yoga, but you can sit with your back against a wall, or your seat on a cushion, or lie with your legs up a wall, or your knees or back supported by bolsters. Or you can sit in a chair. The important thing is to be comfortable.

Once you are comfortable become aware of your breath. Just the fact of the breath. Feel the rise of the chest and the spreading of the ribs on the inhale, and the release of the shoulders on the exhale. Notice the texture and temperature of the breath passing through the nose. If you find, as many of us do, your nose is a little stuffy you might want to reposition yourself with your head and shoulders a little higher. Start to notice in a position of rest how the muscles that are normally held tight to provide stability are able to let go, to rest. When you feel it happening exhale into that sensation allowing yourself to feel yourself dropping into a place of quiet.

At this point I want to offer a few choices. You can stay in this quiet place, focusing on the breath. You may notice that your mind moves to notice other things. Rather than trying to push it back to the breath forcefully, imagine that puppy on the leash. Allow it to notice the distraction, and gently turn it back to the breath. No judgement, no anger, just a.... yes, I see that …. I will come back to look at it more clearly later.... but right now it is just me riding the wave of the breath.

At the end of your practice you might choose to return to a physical place, or a thought, or memory, once you have created a place of focus, where you are undistracted by the cacophony of sensations and thouhts, and turn your notice to it. From the still place sometimes we can see more clearly. Like climbing to a hill and looking down we can see the relationships of the terrain without feeling like we are a part of it at the moment.

This is a choice, not a requirement, by the way. Shavasana can be a place of physical rest, balancing the physical work of a yoga practice. It is healing, comforting, and restful in a multiplicity of ways. That is its beauty.

Now, I am going to offer you a visualization I sometimes use to help me deepen my own practice of creating mental clarity. Visualization, like metaphor in poetry helps us find meaning and clarity that exists on many levels simultaniously. It is a powerful tool, but also a personal one. A couple of years ago I wrote a meditation for Thanksgiving. It is a sequence of images and ideas that work for me. What I am going to give you now is another sequence. I hope you find it helpful, but more than that I hope you can find a way to create your own practice poems. Like Carl Sagan's one voice in a cosmic fugue. We need each ot find our own voices as we sing our part in the song that is the cosmos.

Guided Meditation

Many years ago now I did teacher training at a place in the Santa Barbara hills called White Lotus. Most of us can imagine deplaning in a busy airport, surrounded by people rushing, carts of luggage, loud voices from the intercom, beeping trams, busy shops and food kiosks.... An airport is a good metaphor for our daily life. We are constantly processing input. The airport is an image of the external sensory input... sounds, sights, smells, tastes, and textures... all in a competing jumble. At the same time we have our inner senses providing continuing input... proprioception... pressure, position, balance, …. all sorts of inner information that helps us engage in the world. And there are other voices in this cacophony... our shifting cognitive and emotional responses, and floating bits of memory... all competing for our attention.

Stand there for a moment and breathe it in, then purposefully turn and walk out to your car and begin to drive up into the hills. Notice the sounds drop away, allow yourself to feel the quiet. Hear the sound of your own breath.

When you get to the ashram you would remove your shoes and enter, but I want to take you past the building, down a dusty road, feeling the sun warming your skin, and sinking into your bones. After a bit you find the path leads into trees, and notice both how lovely the sun was, and how lovely the shade is. Not one good and the other bad, but both balancing each other, and each enjoyed in their own time.

We come to a lake. There is a fork in the path. You can choose to walk up a rocky hill to stand on a cliff overhanging the lake. I do not remember exactly how high... 10, 15, 20 feet? But if feels very high. Or you can approach directly to the waters' edge. It is so quiet and still you can hear your own foot steps. The water is dappled with sunlight where the trees do not overhang.

Here is a choice we make with every yoga practice, with each day as we wake up... Is today a day to put in a toe and check the temperature, or is a day for a cannonball? Or something in between? It was common practice of the people at my training to go skinny dipping and jump from the high cliffs. (This was california. For me this was not what I was used to, but I did try it one time.... it is good to be open to new experiences). What matters isn't what you choose, but how and why you choose. This is about where are you here and now... what do you need? … what do you want? … what feels right in this moment in this place in your mind and body? Every day we make a choice as we enter our day. Are we going to choose based on what others expect, or based on our fears, or shrugging off the covering and breathing in the center of now and making our choice. And realizing whatever we choose we are always free to do something else tomorrow.

As you enter the water feel that it is warm, and how it melds to your body. Allow yourself to relax into it. There is a raft on the water, pull yourself onto it and rest, feeling the movement of the water under you and the openness of the sky above. We exist between the sky and the earth, between gravity and tensegrity.... between what is, what grounds us, what is solid beneath our feet, and what can be, what stretches out into possibility above us.

Now, we want to find our anchor. In balance work I talk about how the drishti, or gaze, is like a rope by which we drop an anchor into the world to tether us in place... but a better image is from the stories of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series. When Percy descends into the river Styx to become invulnerable so he can fight for and save his friends he is told that to keep himself from burning away he must tether himself to the world. To do this he needed not just a physical part of his body, but a piece of his heart... something in the world that mattered most deeply to him.

I would ask you to bring your attention inward even further, to what is sometimes called the cave of the heart. This is the place within us that is most spiritually, emotionally central. I would ask you to imagine a person, or a place, or a memory, even a pet.... something that you love with all your heart, that burns most brightly. Find that and rest your attention there. Notice its light, as you breathe feel that light pulse outward, like a wave of water, filling your body, filling your raft, and spilling outward. Like a stone dropped into the water feel the waves of light move outward across the lake. Slowly the water becomes more and more still, until it is like glass, reflecting the sky. And you like soft and still at the center between what is and what can be, resting in the light of love.

At some point you will hear voices calling from the banks. Eventually all yoga and meditation practices must end. Recognize both the pull to remain, and the pull to return. Turn your attention once more to the shining anchor in the cave of the heart and remember that sensation. Remember that it isn't in a lake in Santa Barbara, it is in you. And once you find the road you will have the path back, when you need it.

As you physically prepare to end the practice take a few moments to reorient to the sensations of the room, and the proprioceptive signals of your body. Turn to your side, stretch your limbs as feels good, and when you sit up take a few moments seated before moving out into your day.

I wish you a joyous end of year and new beginnings in the next.

Namaste.

These are the classes I am currently teaching, with a brief description of each. (For those wondering what I am currently up to, or who are thinking of bringing someone and want to make sure to find the right class, or for those exploring class options for the new year.)

All Levels Yoga

Sometimes a teacher has trained exclusively, or primarily in a particular style, or if they are teaching a class meant to be in a single style. Usually though in general yoga classes, especially if a teacher has trained/certified in the last 15 years or so, the class will reflect their own perspective, experience, and style. Because I trained early on with an Iyengar trained teacher you will often find an interest in precision of alignment. Because I studied Exercise Science in graduate school for two years, and particularly enjoyed anatomy that focus on alignment has a blend of anatomy and traditional teachings. My long time habit has been to shift the pattern of my work based on the needs and desires of the students in class that day. This is something I have particularly tried to develop in the last few years by taking trainings with Gary Kraftsow. There is a fair bit of Viniyoga philosophy in my practice, even if the physical work is not entirely within that style. I also use breath work quite often. I do a fair bit of vinyasa as well, from having spent time at the White Lotus ashram in Santa Barbara and learning their style. And my 6 years of academic philosophy are often apparent, as I think if we wanted a toned muscular body we could go to the weight room, and if we wanted to meditate we could meditate.... My practice is as much about mind as it is about body, or more precisely it is about the unity of self that is thought, emotion, physicality, energy and breath.

Keep in mind this is a picture today. It is a moving target.

Also keep in mind all levels makes room for modifications up or down. Yes,... a beginner can take this class. If you have something going on that makes certain postures contraindicated most likely you can do this class. (I am always guiding people though practice with all kinds of specific needs and interests. But it is REALLY IMPORTANT to talk to your medical provider first if you are a beginner and / or have specific medical conditions.)

Back Care

The Back care program is a practice combining 5 areas I think are important in reducing stiffness and inflexibility in the spine as we age. I have had back issues from time to time through my life, in different ares, at different times. In each case I would experiment with my practice to see what was helpful. I began thinking about this many decades ago when I had back pain due to cramping (as many women do). I also had episodes of spasming in my back during pregnancy (also common with the quick forward weight gain and joint laxity). And in recent years I found my neck and thoracic spine were often stiff, (and my sleep was suffering... arthritis?) I am happy to say that my low back is generally happy these days, and my neck is much happier and my sleep fine. So all of these

experiences percolated into the back program.

These are the 5 areas: 1. spinal flexibility, 2. alignment, 3. core strength, 4. shoulder, hip, and leg flexibility, and 5. down regulation of the nervous system (i.e. promoting parasympathetic tone, or relaxing the mind.

Core/Strength Yoga

I have taught variations of this style for years. At one point I was a certified personal trainer, and spent some time learning to power lift. I was very interested in yoga as a vehicle of building intrinsic strength and spent a lot of time thinking about the intersection of the principles used in the weight room, and those used in classical yoga practice. I still have a clipping from the Washington Post from the early 90s on a practice I was developing for a local club combining weights into a vinyasa practice. A lot of people do it now, but it was new enough then to be newsworthy I guess. I think yoga is particularly effective at building strength in the core, something many of us could use.

I am currently teaching 2 variations on this practice. One is a 'fusion' class that uses some core yoga and some more pilates based movement. The other is a strength/core practice that was specifically developed for regular Bikram students. It would be applicable to non Bikram students, it is just structured to be most helpful to that group.

Men's Yoga

The very first place I taught was a women's gym, back in the late 80s. I also taught a men's cardio class that was part of a therapeutic setting. I have also taught kids groups, teens, and seniors. These are going to be a minority of offerings. Generally we learn a great deal in a class that encompasses a wide variety of ages, abilities, experience and needs. However, I think it can also be great to do a class that can spend more time focusing on specific areas. A pregnant student can be fine in a general class, but will get a more targeted practice in a group specifically for pregnant students. And while I took my first class at 9 I find that younger students often have different levels of flexibility and different attention spans. I am not teaching a men's class because I think it matters more than other targeted group classes, but because I have done it before, and was asked if I would do it. It is actually a very fun class.

Coming Soon....

I do think I might be starting to teach some Yin in the spring or summer. If that interests you, please like the FB page and stay tuned.

In the fall I will be an empty nester.... I am still thinking about what trainings to do, and what classes to teach. One thing is certain.... I want to work as long as my mind and my hips hold out. Even after many decades of teaching my students continue to teach me, and my work never gets old.

Monday: 5 pm Core/Strength Yoga Rhode Island Hot Yoga Bristol

Tuesday: 7:15 pm Men's Yoga Cardio Glow Barrington

Wednesday: 9:30 am Yoga Healthtrax East Providence

Wednesday: 7:45 pm Yoga Bayside Y Barrinton

Thursday: 7:30 Back Care Cardio Glow Barrington

Saturday: 9 am Yoga

Saturday: 10 am Core/Fusion Healthtrax East Providence

Amazon Quest is a computer game my kids played when they were younger. It was a great game: interesting story line, interesting characters, and varied interactions and choices to figure out. I also realized that there were definite consequences to making choices and those consequences rested on a moral compass just as much as steering down the Amazon required a steady hand and good directional skills.

At the beginning of the game, before you take off on your trip you must choose a package of equipment and a guide. There was one particular guide I liked, and I realized as I thought about the game that I didn't just like that she was really good at fishing, but that I had an emotional reaction to a character that was basically nice. I also really disliked one of the other guides because he was a jerk. Even if I was likely to get more points I didn't care. I just didn't want to spend time with this (virtual) person.

The other day I was talking to some of my students about who we follow in our yoga practice, and I was thinking about Amazon Quest and how we make choices in our practices/quests/life.

I don't really mean that some people choose Bikram, or others Iyangar, and others Viniyoga... I mean who stands at our elbow and helps give us guidance.

A long time ago I was blogging about the role of the yoga teacher, and how I saw myself as the one who stands at the cross roads and points out the possibilities and risks of various roads. I do think yoga teachers are an example of one kind of guide. However, anyone familiar with the history of yoga is aware of the problem with choosing paths strictly through the eyes and choices of an external teacher. I don't know of any lineages or styles of yoga that haven't had issues where a 'guru' given too much authority looses themselves and crashes and burns with those who have chosen to follow them. It isn't helpful for either party. This general rule has been true of spiritual leaders, coaches, teachers, doctors, and other experts throughout history.

Does this mean we need to throw all leadership, all guides out and just follow our own way? Our paths are much more challenging with no one to help, lead, direct, challenge and support us. And humans are essentially creatures that thrive together, that emotionally atrophy without community. I have had to find my own way for large swaths of time over my long practice history and it has made me value and respect truly great teaching when I have been able to have it.

George Washington had his set of principles, Dante his muse, some have a sacred text, some a spiritual community, some a life coach, or a personal trainer. But like all of those guides standing in Belem offering their services we have to make a choice and once that choice is made decide whether we give them full power to direct us, or to turn around and look at our own personhood, understand what parts of ourselves we want to allow to choose and guide our path: Ego, fear, loneliness, adventure seeking, curiosity, kindness, duty?

I used to say: “don't follow ego," “follow sensation and intention," but lately I've been thinking there is even another layer of balance here. Ego unfettered can lead to the case I described as the guy who gets a new chainsaw and stands in front of his garage waiting for people to walk past so he can rev it up. In yoga this can lead to doing the hardest possible postures in class even when it is not what our body needs because we so desperately want to be admired. Clearly such narcissism makes it rather hard to interact with both ones self and other people in an honest way. But ego can also be a force that makes us want to shine, to see the value of the world and of ourselves as a part of it. Not seeing one's own value seems as much a misunderstanding as only seeing one's own value.

When I come to my yoga mat I follow the teacher, but I walk with my curiosity, who is guided and moderated by my fear/self preservation, who is nudged out from the shadows by my sociability…. And so on.

For all of us, it is helpful to understand what aspect of self we tend to allow to lead the pack. Risk taking is usually at the back of mine, so when I practice I try to practice awareness of when I am pulling back by habit, and when by reason, and if it is hard to stop my default, I can at least see it happening and invite myself to take other counsel.

And when it comes to the external teachers and guides I try to be guided by both heart and head. I want a leader who has the skills to teach me to fish, but also one who can teach me to be kind, and who I can trust to watch my back or to help me be brave when it is hard.

This post is a non-philosophical one.  I have simply given you my take on how to do the six movements of the spine, with reminders on integrating the breath, internal and external focus, and ways to adapt it when you, or your student, might have an injury or condition that makes one of the styles of practice difficult or uncomfortable.  Please feel free to share, quote, or get back to me with questions.  

If you have time I do suggest following this with the leg series (if you google my name and the words 'blog' and 'leg series' you will find it) and/or Andrew Wyeth series (I will try to put that up for you, but it will involve drawing and scanning, so for now you will need to come to class and ask me to show you, as the drawing and scanning will take some time.

Have a beautiful day:

To Prepare for the Practice

1. Get comfortable on the mat or the chair. If you are seated cross legged and your back is uncomfortable you might want to roll the end of the mat and sit on the roll to lift your hips. If you are on your back and your back is uncomfortable you could try bending your knees or putting an extra rolled mat under them.

2. If it feels comfortable for you you might wish to close your eyes. The reason for this is to allow yourself to change the direction of your senses. The 5 senses you learned about in preschool allow you to notice the world around you: to taste a strawberry, to see the shiny blue of a new car, to hear laughter, not to walk into trees... But you also have sensors in your body: in your tendons, ligaments, skin, bones, and so on that give you information on the inner world: pressure, temperature, position, and so on. When you shut your eyes you turn off the strongest outward sensor and allow yourself to drive the direction of attention to the inner world.

3. Notice the part of your body touching the floor. Feel how gravity pulls you down to the earth. Where is the pressure? Is it even from right to left? Does your spine feel straight or slightly pulled to one direction? It is fine to explore making some small movements and noticing whether you feel straighter, more aligned.

4. Now notice your neck. Remember that there is no need to judge or be angry about yourself here. In yoga speak we are becoming the self that observes the self without judgement and with compassion. Are you holding tension between the shoulder blades? Is one side higher than the other? Does it feel like your head is even over your torso, or pushing forward? Feel free to move slightly into the direction of tension and notice if you feel more aligned.

5. Now bring your attention to the breath. The breath is the link between the mind and the body. The body will breath automatically even if your mind is busy on your to do list or your phone. But when you bring your attention to the breath you can shift the pattern of the breath to deepen your stretches, to help create mental focus, or even to affect the dimensions of mood and energy. As you inhale notice how the spine stretches. As you exhale notice how the shoulders relax. As we practice we will open and stretch into the inhale, and relax into the exhale.

6. You may open your eyes or keep them closed throughout the practice, as you want to focus on me demonstrating the pose, or something in the room, or focus on some sensation within your body or on the breath. Please come into the starting position for the six movements of the spine.

7. One last word.... each of us is who we are due to our unique genetics and unique life experiences... strengths, injuries, etc. It is really helpful to talk to a medical provider before doing any of these movements. There aren't many postures that I have not had one or another student need to modify over the years. If you have a sense of where you are right now it will help figure out how to walk forward. Just remember the advice I always give my students. It is better to say “It's hard” than “I can't”, and then to figure out what is the best way to make it happen.

6 Movements of the Spine: Classical Position

1. Please come to hands and knees. Make sure your hand is directly under your shoulder, and your knee directly under your hip. Feel free to double the mat or place a folded towel under wrists or knees. Keep the back in a neutral position. This position is sometimes called table top. Some teachers will give you sanskrit names for postures, some english, (or whatever language they are teaching in). I will probably move back and forth, so feel free to ask if something I say is puzzling to you.

2. I would like you to visualize your spine as a string of beads. Or you can use an image I got from another teacher... a series of hockey pucks with jelly doughnuts between. You don't want to push so hard you get the jelly out (anyone ever had a ruptured disc? Not fun). But you also don't want to let a joint stay imoble (frozen shoulder anyone?) So as we stretch we move to a point of deep stretch slowly enough to stop before we enter pain which is the door to injury. This point is different for everyone, so measure in your own intensity, not in how many inches you go.

3. The first two movements are basically up and down. Focus on your navel. Begin to exhale and follow the exhale by pulling your navel in and arching the back upward. Slightly tuck your chin and feel the stretch move from the tail bone to the base of the skull. If you want to emphasize the stretch in the low back allow your seat to move back an inch or two as you keep the back tucked. This move is usually called 'cat stretch'

4. Now inhale and return to flat back/table top. Continue to breathe naturally and on the next inhale allow your low back to sag downward, at the same time lifting and opening through the chest. You can slightly lift the head, but avoid flinging the head back on the neck (remember the jelly doughnuts?) This posture is sometimes called 'Cow'

5. Exhale and return to flat back. The second pair of the 6 movements is a side to side movement. Imagine that bead necklace on a table and picture pusing the center right and then left. I sometimes call this the Cocoa Chanel posture... back to back Cs. Staying in flat back inhale and imagine pushing your tail bone to the back of the room and your head to the front. As you exhale push and open your rib cage to the right and your head and hips to the left. Imagine that you are trying to look at your hip.

6. Inhale and return. On your next inhale repeat in the opposite direction.

7. The last pair of movements uses rotation. Rotational movements help move fluid in the body... kind of like wringing a dish cloth. Moving parts move better when well oiled and not dry. Do be aware of any medical complications that limit such movement. Come back to flat back.

8. Inhale lifting the right arm up with straight elbow only as high as the shoulder. As you exhale bring the arm down onto the elbow under the body, palm up. The right hand will be close to the inside of the left hand. If your back and shoulder allows you may slide down to rest on your shoulder. Your left arm now acts as a lever. Bending the elbow will release the stretch, and straightening it will increase it. When you are ready to come out you will press down into that hand and pull the right arm out from under the body, returning to flat back.

9. Repeat on the other side. These are sometimes called 'Thread the needle”

10. Come off the hands and knees and come into resting position.

Once you are in a position you may hold it for one breath, or several. Please do not hold the breath while holding the posture. Every inhale lets you lengthen, every exhale lets you relax. You can even say those words to yourself in your mind as you breathe.

6 Movements of the Spine: Seated on the Mat

Please note that in seated mode we are taking a different order than the kneeling series. The 6 directions are still the same.

1. Come into a comfortable seated position. If your back is tight feel free to roll the back of your mat and sit up on the roll. The hands can rest comfortably on the thighs or on the floor.

2. Begin to notice the pattern of breath.

3. As you inhale press down into the hips feeling the connection of the hip to the floor, and lift the crown of the head toword the ceiling, as though you are being pulled up by a string. The hands may push down to the floor if you like.

4. As you exhale begin to turn to the right. The left hand reaches over toward the opposite thigh. The right hand may want to push down into the floor behind your body. Notice the stretch that runs from that hand up into the shoulder. Imagine each of the beads of the necklace taking a small movement.... spiraling up bead by bead.... not too much with any one bead pair... When you get to the top of the spine... where the spine meets the skull you may turn a little more (those vertebrae move a little differently than the others) and look over your shoulder.

5. Inhale and lengthen toward the ceiling and exhale and release to center.

6. Repeat on the other side.

7. Sitting in your comfortable position inhale and lengthen the spine again, pressing your right hand to the floor and lifting your left up to the ceiling (like making a snow angel), rotating your palm to face in toward the body. As you exhale lean left. Your right hip bone might feel like it wants to lift. Gently focusing on the floor and hip press downward. If it feels comfortable slightly rotate the armpit forward. Inhale to lengthen and as you exhale snow angel the arm back down.

8. Repeat on the other side.

9. If you are sitting cross legged you can stay or uncross them and bend the knees placing the feet on the floor in front of you, about 6 inches or so between the feet (as feels comfortable) and a comfortable distance from the body.

10. If you are cross legged you will reach to hold your shins. If you are in bent knee you will hold your thighs under the knees.

11. Inhailing stretch up again, lengthening the spine. As you exhale tuck the navel in, as though you are holding a quarter in it, drop the chin to the chest (don't push... just gently drop) and lean back with the mid back until you feel a deep stretch. On the inhale lengthen and return

12. Inhailing stretch up again and press your hands to the floor near your hips, pressing your breast bone forward and slightly up. Notice the shoulder blades in back rotating slightly downward. Please do not allow the head to drop all the way back. Keep the chin slightly tucked, but lengthen the neck. Exhale and return.

13. Come to resting position, preferably flat back, or child pose.

Once you are in a position you may hold it for one breath, or several. Please do not hold the breath while holding the posture. Every inhale lets you lengthen, every exhale lets you relax. You can even say those words to yourself in your mind as you breathe.

Six Movements of the Spine: Seated in a Chair (The chair should have no arms, no rollers)

1. Come into a comfortable seated position. Your back should be a few inches forward from the back, your feet on the floor. You can place a block (or a book if you don't have a block) under your feet if needed. Your hands can rest comfortably in your lap.

2. Placing your hands on the sides of the chair inhale and gently push down into your seat and your hands and press the crown of the head up toward the ceiling. Notice the spine lengthen and the chest open.

3. Exhale and tuck your navel in as though you are holding a quarter there, at the same time leaning your mid back back toward the back of the chair and gently dropping your head and rounding your shoulders forward. Continue to breathe and when you are ready to leave the posture inhale and straighten again.

4. On the next breath inhale and straighten again, then exhale and feel your shoulders relax, inhale and notice and press the breast bone and ribs and navel (in that order) forward and lift the chin slightly (do not let the head fall back. That will squish... technical yoga term... your cervical spine). On the exhale relax, on the inhale straighten up again and exhale to relax.

5. The second pair of movements is done seated sideways (with the back perpendicular to your right or left arm).

6. If your right arm is next to the back of the chair place the right hand on the seat next to the back. As you inhale lift the left arm over head, rotating the palm to face inward. At the same time press the left side of your seat into the seat of the chair (I refer that as rooting... you root down and lift up) and lean toward the right, noticing how the ribs slightly spread and the space between the hips and the bottom rib opens. Exhale and relax. Inhale and lengthen upward till the hand faces the ceiling and exhale and release the arm to the side, noticing the shoulder and neck relax.

7. Repeat in the other direction, by moving slowly and carefully to face in the other direction with the other shoulder and arm perpendicular to the back of the chair.

8. The last two movements are also done perpendicular (side saddle) to the back of the chair.

9. Sitting side saddle with the right arm next to the back of the chair inhale and lift the crown of the head to the ceiling. Feel the spine extend and the chest open. Root to the seat of the chair. As you exhale turn to the right placing the right and left hands on the back of the chair. When you are ready to come out inhale to lengthen, and exhale to return.

10. Repeat in the other direction, by moving slowly and carefully to face in the other direction with the other shoulder and arm perpendicular to the back of the chair.

Once you are in a position you may hold it for one breath, or several. Please do not hold the breath while holding the posture. Every inhale lets you lengthen, every exhale lets you relax. You can even say those words to yourself in your mind as you breathe.

The other day I was looking something up for a class, and happened to go through several of my old ACE manuals. For those who do not work in fitness, ACE is one of the largest certifying agencies for fitness professionals. I still have my first manual... published in 1987. I also later did a personal training certificaion, and then, after taking time off when my kids were little, did the group fitness one again. So I have a lot of manuals. One of the things that struck me is not just that a great deal of research has honed the understanding of the nature of fitness, but how much more space in the newer manuals is given to things like adherence and motivation, and communication skills rather than just to science and methodology.

This reminded me of a conversation a few years ago on a q and a site for fitness people where someone new to the field was asking how one can make people understand the benefits of fitness, because they felt that if one can only explain that, of course everyone would smack their heads and immediately go start and stay with a fitness routine. Which kind of misses the effects of all the other parts of why and how and when people choose to do what they do.

If you have ever gone to a yoga class you know that one of the things that gets said a lot is about setting an intention. I often tell my students that I want them to pay attention, so that they can set an intention for their practice (each one, and all of them) not based on habit but on their own needs and values. I don't think the role of the teacher is to tell the students what they should do, but to help people to clear their own mental clutter and look for paths, and consider consequences, good and bad, of those possible paths. This is never a simple process, either for teacher or for student. What matters is having a conversation where each actually listens to the other and frames a response based on what was said, rather than memorized phrases, or stories we tell ourselves. And to have that same honest conversation with ourselves.

In other words, a student will do well if they can articulate to themselves and to a potential teacher what they need and want. A teacher or studio will do well if they listen to the student rather than trying to sell everyone what they have on the shelf. (Remember the old movie 'Miracle on 34^th Street, when Santa is irritated at being expected to get the kids to ask for toys that the store had in overstock?) And if a studio or teacher is asked for something that runs counter to what they see as their mandate they need to be honest, but not judging.

In my experience there are a few broad categories of reasons people come to yoga class (or fitness), though there are so many differences of temprament, of experience, of interest, that there is never one answer or one path that fits everyone. However, this is a pretty good place to begin your practice, and a pretty good thing for a studio to consider.... are we purposely serving some of these categories, and do we refer out those looking for something else, or do we aim to work with all of them and define our program perameters accordingly?

For some their needs/desires are Preventative. They want to strengthen the core to avoid back pain, or to keep their bodies limber, or work on balance to avoid falls. For some it is Therapeutic. They have had an injury or illness and they are working their way back. For some it is Developmental. They want to support their running, or their golf, for example. For some it is Transformative. They want to engage in a journey of self understanding. And of course you do get some whose orientation to practice is purely Curiosity.

But if we take this conversation a step deeper we can ask, are there basic things that most humans want, beyond these different orientations? I think there are, and I do not think the answer is fitness, or health, or a beautiful body. I think the two things almost all of us want are Meaning and Connection.

The best places in which I have worked and worked out over the decades, have all been places that have fostered a real, deep, and inclusive sense of connection. Some of the worst have been those that have put up a facade of connection on a foundation of desire for profit, or connection of exclusion.

So connection is not the same for everyone. For some people connection is to a group, for others to one or two people. I know not a few people whose strongest connections are to animals, rather than people. I also know people who are most strongly connected to a place that holds meaning. But generally, except for the true narcissist, people seek human connection. Is there someone who has your back? Someone who would bring you soup when you are ill, someone who will listen when you need to speak? Someone who looks at you for who you are, having dropped the masks and the roles we create for ourselves, and accepts you in the nakedness of your soul?

Again, I would say there are different types of connection. There is the fake connection: like the telesalesperson who addresses you by your fist name to build a false sense of intimacy to facilitate their sale. There is the real connection that is based on exclusion... not what or with whom you share, but who is not invited to the party, so to speak. Some businesses do a brisk business with this, but a friend who comes to visit when there is somehting in it for them is a poor and empty substitute for true connection. Like the yoga studio that says … 'I teach REAL yoga' or “I will let you drink coffee here, those other guys are not as up to date'. Then there is connection that is real, but selfish. This is particularly disappointing in a yoga studio, but truly, even the best fitness studios I have worked with transcend this. It is what I call 'spa yoga'. 'We will have a 'juicy' practice and feel GREAT.' Nothing wrong with this.... we all need a 'spa night', or a comfort meal of mac and cheese from time to time. I just think by itself it is limiting our ability to explore ourselves and foster connection. The truest and best connection... the thing that draws me to a place... and keeps me there.... and makes me invite friends to share in the bounty... is belonging that is based on an open heart, concern for health, and well being, and compassion that is expressed to the self and to the world. As Bill advised in 'Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure'; “Be excellent to eachother.”

There is a studio in DC where I taught for some time that had this. They had social events for the members... helping them to connect to each other. They paid and treated the employees well and with respect. (And one of the best indicators of a good studio is how the staff is treated). They raised money for important causes. They took care to offer not just the latest flashiest programs, but programs that were not going to injure their members, as well as being fun. They capped the membership to ensure there was only reasonable waiting time for equipment. If you are in DC you can still go to City Fitness. I haven't been there for almost 15 years, but I have fond memories of it.

Meaning is a more esoteric concept, and one that does not often come to mind when thinking about one's gym membership. It is, however, there... in the zumbathon I did last weekend to raise money for Autism awareness. It is in the class that the Bikram studio where I teach will be offering to raise money for animal welfare ('Bending for Beagles'). It is in the chair yoga class where lI met an elderly lady who had lost her husband and was alone, but found rest, and social support.

Meaning is steeped within highest rung of the connection ladder. Not that people always seek it there. Sometimes we look for meaning by making sure our name is remembered, or by making our mark on the world without thinking about how we will be remembered and what sort of mark we make. That is why I say meaning and connection are intertwined at their deepest place. The deepest work of yoga is not to open just our hamstrings or make us physically strong, but to make our hearts open and strong. As someone who has within their meandering life experienced times where I lacked both, I believe fully in the beauty of a life that is connected and meaningful, and understand how hard people seek for it, and how hard it can be to keep going without it. If there is one thing all of us want at the end of our days it is to have a sense that our lives mattered, and to have and to have had someone to hold our hand and hold us in their heart.

One day when my youngest brother was about 12 or 13 (and I was about 15) he decided he wanted some cake. Not having money or transportation, or a store anyplace near us he decided to bake one. Actually he decided to bake an angel food cake. My mother had always done a lot of baking, but had gone back to work full time the year before and we were all learning to figure out how to use her heretofore closely guarded kitchen. When I got in from wherever I was he told me about it, and showed me what he had baked. He said it was pretty tasty, but he was surprised how it had turned out: dense and about an inch high. I asked him about the recipe, and he said; 'Well, the recipe did call for cream of tarter, but we didn't have any cream, so I used milk.” It was actually a smart idea, but based on a lack of information about the basic tools of cooking.

Most people do not begin cooking in an organized fashion. If you are lucky, at some point you go to a school with home ec classes, or have a parent who cooks who can teach you the basics, or watch cooking shows, or take some classes. This is true of a lot of basic things we learn in life: interpersonal skills, reading, self care.... It is also the way most of us get introduced to yoga. Today it is so ubiquitous in our culture most people have heard of it, and have some basic knowledge. Like my brother who knew how to turn on the stove, and read a recipe, but didn't have a comprehensive understanding of leavenings and how they work.

While it is possible to draw a definite distinction between someone who has never done yoga, or cooked, or whatever, I think it is harder to draw a definite distinction between a novice and an intermediate, and a master of the discipline. There are just too many possible paths to that mastery. And it is easier to become adept at mastering advanced postures than it is to become an advanced yoga practitioner. That they are different things is one of the hardest things to explain to a beginner yogi, and one of the most important things you can understand to unlock the deeper principles and practices available in the tradition.

Mastering the postural work is actually a really good beginning. If someone hands you a knife you slice a bunch of things with it, try different grips, figure out how to clean it, and so on. A good cook learns each of his or her tools as well as possible. The postures are some of the most basic tools of yoga. It would be difficult to move forward in the practice without working in a focused manner on the postures. My suggestion for the beginner would be not to get too worried about highly complex postures until you are comfortable in the more basic ones. One of the problems with 'instagram yoga' is that it makes us focus on really complex poses, rather than to see the beauty and worth in the simpler foundations on which those poses rest. Of course this isn't new. Even back at the turn of the 20^th century teachers would have the students demonstrate complex postures. It is motivating and captivating. There is a beautiful poster of Angela Farmer in Eka Pada Viparita Dandasana I had hanging in my studio. But think of poses like down dog and standing forward bend and boat as your plate of good bread and olives and fresh fruit, and the complex arm balances as tiramisu and gnocci with vodka sauce. The foundation of good practice, and good health is with the simple, fresh, and well prepared meal, with richer, more complex dishes as complements and treats.

For my students who are reading this and are wondering how to more from beginner posture work to advanced posture work I recommend that you start by developing a regular practice. If you cannot get to regular group practice practice on your own. Just remember that there is a huge benefit with working with a teacher if you can. There is also a benefit to working with different teachers in different styles of practice. You will learn more. Then once you feel comfortable with a basic posture, begin exploring variations. For example boat can be done with different arm positions. As you feel comfortable with some variations you can begin to work on variations that are not just opening the body differently, but require more strength, more flexibility, more balance, or more focus. I prefer to think.... where can I move from this place where I am now, rather than, I want to master this hard posture, what are the basic postures I need to do to get there. But you can do it either way. I just prefer the primacy to be on the practice, and the needs of the practitioner, rather than the postures.

A more advanced asana practitioner is one who understands the principles of sequencing. At the same time as you are learning to do the postures, you are learning why and how you want to string them together. Our cook needs to learn that the final product might be different if the ingredients are added in a different order. This isn't just about having a goal of getting to those harder postures, but of how the practice as a whole affects you.

I have, thus far, talked more about how to get better at asanas, but to be advanced in your yoga means to get to know the other tools in the box, aside from the asanas.

I don't think an advanced yogi needs to master all of the tools of yoga, but should at least be aware of them, and have tried enough to see what works for them. There are many tools in addition to asanas: breath work (pranayama), mental focus, kriyas, mudras, chanting, personal ritual, meditation, chakra work... these are most of the primary areas of focus.

The use of breath is sometimes taught concomitantly with the postures. Deeper breath work, though, is usually taught after one has some experience with asana. I do think an advanced yoga practitioner ought to have spent some time exploring pranayama. I am not sure I would say someone who is a master of kapalbhati is more of a higher level yogi, than someone who isn't, or that being able to do a really impressive ujayii is the most important thing. Understanding, exploring with an open mind, and finding what works for you seems to me to matter more. In other words... to be an advanced yogi is less about simply doing abstruse postures and breaths and kriyas, or having a smattering of sanskrit, or wearing a mala, and taking a beautiful photos of yourself in full split with your thumb and fingers in agni mudra than it is about how and why and when we do those things. It is about having taken an inner, as well as an outer journey.

You might have mastered all the knives in your kitchen, and be a whiz at chopping lemons, but if you are not able to pay attention, to focus, you are likely to chop off a finger. Mastery of the field of attention is the first step in mastering the postures, and it is a consequence of working on mastering the postures. It is also then the first tool you need to begin working on meditation in yoga. Meditation in yoga is more than simply being able to focus. You might be able to focus on doing a perfect chaturanga dandasana but have you explored the consequences of doing that posture, have you considered its effects on your body, have you looked honestly at why you spend so much time on that posture? Most of know it is possible to spend a lot of effort propping up a pretty facade, rather than letting it fall, and facing the hurt and disfunctions, and loss, and lacks within. The capacity of honest, deep, compassionate self study and of adapting one's practice to that study.... the capacity to use the mental, and emotional resources of the self as well as the physical... all of this is more a hallmark of an advanced yogi... more than the perfect side crow.

Artisan and Ersatz

Most people know that the Shakers were a religious group, mostly died out now, who were famous for making furniture. The history of the Shakers is actually really interesting, but what I have been thinking about lately is how their furniture became so valuable and sought after. Their core religious/philosophical/ethical principles were honesty and simplicity. Thus decorated inlay, and even metal drawer pulls were not used, and the furniture stressed sturdy quality over decoration.

This is a duality that exists in all sorts of craft work and manufacture. With furniture, it used to be that people went to a cabinet maker and ordered pieces made as they wanted. It took longer, and cost more, and people without the money for a cabinet maker generally made their own. However, you can look at furniture in museums from the 1700s, that endured generations of use, and still are in good shape, and see the value of such work. In the mid 1800s mass produced furniture became a thing.... good because more people could go and buy things ready made, but at the cost of often shoddy workmanship. You might point out that it is good that more people can have things that help them to live comfortably. I would say we are back to Aristotle.... starvation is bad, gluttony is bad, but there is a lot of room for good between the two. It is possible for people to get mass produced wares that may not be museum quality, but may also not be made to fall apart within a month so the person has to go and buy more stuff from the seller.

We still all stand between these choices today (and not just regarding shelves and tables). My mother had a seasoned cast iron pot that had lasted through 3 generations. Think about how many pots you have bought. And tossed out. There are a bunch of issues here It is true that a 10$ blouse is easier to justify than an 100$ blouse.... and if you are on a budget it might seem cheaper. But if it tears, or stains easily after 2 washings you have to add up how many of those blouses you buy in a year, and it seems that if we could save up and buy quality we might end up spending less in the long run. It is also true that all that stuff that gets thrown out has to go someplace. People do recycle... but how many benches of recycled PVC do we need? And fabric that is really cheaply made isn't always going to be easy to use even for rags.

What we don't talk about as much is the choices the creator of the object makes. A cabinetmaker would start as a youth apprentice, and spend a lifetime learning their trade. When they made an item it was real, and solid, and honest, and it represented a lifetime of knowledge. When each of us looks at what we make, or do, or teach, would we not want to feel it is not quick and shoddy, but real, and honest.... to strive for excellence rather than speed.

This duality is not just about stuff, but about us. It is about how we approach our work, and our lives. Do we seek excellence, or quick cheap results? Well: faster weight loss is less likely to be maintained. Cheaply made stuff wears out and must be replaced. A poorly trained physician is more likely to provide poor treatment.

Back to Yoga and Exercise

Krishnamacharya was one of the greatest yoga teachers of the 20^th century. He taught or influenced most of the teachers who founded the major lineages that are still being taught today, and you can see his influence even in their offshoots. I have read different accounts of the time line of his education, but it seems clear he began to study Sanskrit and Vedic philosophy, and yoga as a child, first with his father, and later at his great grandfather's school. These studies continued until 1916 when he was able to go to Tibet and study with a very famous yoga teacher. He stayed there 7 and a half years, before returning. I have also heard that he studied ayurveda after his time in Tibet. All of this was before becoming a teacher himself.

There is a reason why he was one of the most respected and influential teachers of the last hundred and fifty years. Part of it is his clear gift for the practice. Part of it is that he spent a lifetime honing his skills, and learning his craft.

Today in yoga most yoga training programs, certainly in the USA, bear the label of '200' or '500' hours from the Yoga Alliance. And most people who teach yoga go through such a program. If you are considering becoming a teacher, or looking for a teacher I would like to suggest that such a program is neither necessary nor sufficient. That doesn't mean I object to them.... such a program is a really good jumping off point, or learning experience. I just mean these type of programs are relatively new. They reflect standards set in the last 20 years or so by the Yoga Alliance. There are many good ways to learn to teach yoga that do not involve such a program. Moreover, they are really only a start. Once you have the stamp of approval it is not possible to stop reading, studying, and training, if you want to be a really good teacher. So, yes, do training if it is at all possible for you. For one thing, in this highly competitive environment it is much less likely you will be employed without it. But let it be a jumping off point, rather than a finish line.

Just as in fashion there is always a push to cheaper and cheaper as more and more manufacturers enter the market, there is also a push for cheaper and quicker trainings. There are actually 'yoga like' classes that you could go and get 'certified' in in a weekend. There are 'certifications' in yoga, and in other modalities, like Pilates, that you can get online, by doing an unproctered online exam.

Compare that to 7 years in Tibet.

My biggest problem with the Alliance is not the 200 and 500 hour standards. I actually think they have produced a state where the average teacher has a reasonable understanding. I actually know very few bad yoga teachers, and the couple I have met that I do not like were not because they were deficient in some way, but because I didn't personally like their teaching style, or I found them grating personally. But I do think the system does not reward excellence, as much as it rewards being good with self promotion.

I also did not at all agree with them setting the standard for someone offering teacher training as having the 500 hour training. I think teaching the teachers should require passing a higher bar... a certain number of hours of teaching, running your own program, advanced study in either auryeda, or anatomy, or meditation, or yoga philosophy.

So if you are considering teaching yoga please take a breath. Look in the mirror and ask yourself if you want to do it because you teach group exercise, for instance, and want to make more money (and I am a certified group ex teacher, so I read the same industry things that talk about how yoga can make you more money, or be a good thing to teach), or if this is your calling... something so close to your bones that it is not what you do, but who you are.

It is certainly fine to do a teacher training even if it is not about calling. There are lots of classes out there, and if you can master the postures and do the 200 hours you might find that it is a good use of resources.

But for me, I might not ever get to the level of a hand turned inlaid chest, but I have made it my life's work not to be the kit from Walmart where the bottom is plywood, and the sides do not dovetail, and the veneer is thinner than paper, and the wood possibly full of arsenic.

Do yoga. Read yoga texts old and modern. Meditate. Attend workshops if you can. Be ready so that when you get to your training it isn't new material, but a new understanding of how to put it all together. Buy an anatomy textbook and learn your body from the inside out. I did 2 years of graduate work in exercise science and that has been enormously helpful in my teaching.

Be excellent. The good news is that with yoga excellence is not in the perfectly executed headstand, but in the daily study and practice. If you turn your eyes to excellence you will be there already. Because the practice is what matters more than the endpoint.

“ Do your practice and all is coming” Sri K Pattabhi Jois

I would like to share (with her permission) a recipe for a protein smoothie that I got from a local nutritionist. She has counselled family and friends and gets high praise. I like this recipe because it works for the child (or adult) who is fruit averse, or generally averse to anything unusual, but who would benefit from having a protein rich breakfast or snack to replace a sugary carb load. It is quick to make and can be consumed in the car running late to work or school.

I am going to give you her original recipe, and then my adaptations. I prefer sardines or nuts or eggs, and fresh fruit for breakfast myself, but not everyone in my household is on board with that.

Meghan Martorana's Chocolate Smoothie

½ - 1 cup chocolate milk

2 tbsp peanut butter

1 Tbsp cocoa powder (optional)

1 scoop protein powder

I mix the milk

( Note I am not a nutritionist myself, but I choose 2% organic chocolate milk.... My reasons are that there seems to be a lot of questions about the advisability of non fat dairy. I do buy and use skim milk as well, but also use higher fat dairy at times. I like organic as I am anti hormones in animals... and thus in the milk, and in my or my family's bodies. Also I like to avoid pesticide residue and contribute to keeping our planet less polluted. And of course I try for local where I can see how the animals are treated as much as I can. I imagine one could use a vegan alternative, though I think you would want one with a less strong flavor. I personally avoid almond milk due to the very high water costs of that product. Please also note, I am giving the reasons for my choices. I make no judgement on anyone making different choices. I think what matters is taking the time to think out your ethical underpinnigs and how your choices relate to those ethics.)

with the peanut butter

(I like the Teddy's smooth. It is less grainy than the fresh ground whole foods stuff, and I think does better in a drink. I imagine you could use soy butter, or some other nut butter. Do read the labels as a number of companies add hydrogenated fat to their peanut butter to make it smoother. )

and the protein powder

(I love Tara's Whey organic chocolate. It is not grainy. )

and I blend this into a thick drink.

Here is where I make a little change. Instead of the cocoa powder I melt 2 squares of dark chocolate. Then I add ice and the melted chocolate on top of the ice and mix it together. The melted chocolate forms little flecks and the whole thing makes a kind of icy slushy.

Perfect for a sleepy teen who would otherwise go without breakfast or grab something from the snack cupboard.