I like to dabble around with different yoga teachers and styles. I'm not into sticking to one thing and calling it the best. With just about everything, there are tons of different styles and techniques. People like to latch on to one and call that the best while putting down all the others. There is no perfect yoga style and there is no perfect yoga teacher. That's why I love to learn what I can from as many people as possible and then put together my favorite elements of each.
I don't like labeling one style or the other as the best because different styles are good for different people. Ashtanga yoga caught my attention because it's very high energy and vigorous, which is great to help pull me off of the couch or out of bed. Someone in my teacher training just gave a presentation on yoga for eating disorders. Ashtanga would be terrible for them because they already overexercise and need a calm, quiet, slow yoga practice.
As I was setting up my yoga class at work (before I started teaching it), someone asked me what style I'm teaching. I stumbled to figure out how to describe it. I had never thought of how to label it. I guess "hatha flow" can describe it in a very broad way to answer the question.
The yoga teacher training that I'm nearly finished with is taught by Iyengar teachers, but it's not an Iyengar training. They admit their bias, but embrace all styles. I really like that a lot. There's no need for style rivalry in yoga, but it happens all the time. Of course all of their teaching is based on Iyengar, since that's what they know, but it's great that they don't try to force their bias onto their students.
My practice has always been vinyasa flow. It's been Ashtanga and Ashtanga-based vinyasa for the last 8 months, and I love it. Ashtanga is what you do when you outgrow "regular vinyasa" and are ready for something deeper and harder.
This is why I wrote my thesis paper for yoga school about Ashtanga yoga. It was my way of bridging my personal practice with my teacher training. I was struggling to learn as much as I could about Ashtanga on my own while learning all about Iyengar yoga.
So now I'm starting to learn a bit of Anusara yoga. It started with a 4 part workshop on assisting in yoga poses. That's something that isn't covered by the teacher training, and I think it's an important skill for a yoga teacher to have. It was taught by an Anusara teacher, so naturally he taught it from an Anusara perspective. I really enjoyed the class and am comfortable adjusting students now. I still feel a little awkward adjusting men, especially at work, but I'll have to get over that.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Virabhadrasana Door Stop and Bookends
I just got this awesome little man to keep the pug gate open when we're home so they have access to their water dish. He's pretty awesome. Brad doesn't think he's as functional as the Petzyme jug was since you can't move him around with your foot or he'll fall over, although I'm getting better at that. I'm going to call him my little Virabhadra.
But wait, there's more! They also come in bookends! I'm going to get a set for home and work. I just have to pick my colors: black, green, red, or orange. I wish they came in blue or purple. I think I'll get red for work because it matches my dictionaries. I'll have to see what color most of my yoga books are. Black makes a classy little door stop, but I think I want colorful bookends. Life is full of tough choices. :-P
But wait, there's more! They also come in bookends! I'm going to get a set for home and work. I just have to pick my colors: black, green, red, or orange. I wish they came in blue or purple. I think I'll get red for work because it matches my dictionaries. I'll have to see what color most of my yoga books are. Black makes a classy little door stop, but I think I want colorful bookends. Life is full of tough choices. :-P
Slashing Things Off the To-Do List
I enjoy keeping myself busy. I've slowly accumulated a few too many things on my schedule. Some weeks I have the energy to do everything, but trying to do everything every week on top of my full-time job can lead to a tired, burned-out Becky.
I've had this happen a few times before. Deciding what to cut out is always the hardest part. Sometimes it's been WoW raids, sometimes it's been yoga classes, sometimes I've resisted cutting stuff out and burned out to the point where I don't do either for a week or so. If only I could cut out work days, haha I wish.
Cutting out yoga classes is hard. Am I justifying being lazy or is this a good idea for me? I filled out my form for teacher training where we need a minimum of 25 yoga classes during the course of the training (9 months) and 7 months in I had attended 60 or so classes. That's great and all, especially as I was learning what this Ashtanga stuff is all about, but I'm at a point where I should practice more on my own rather than depending on a teacher and a group.
I love practicing in a group. There's a wonderful energy, a teacher to guide me and correct me, and people who love yoga like me to become friends with, but it's a huge time commitment and an awful drive during rush hour. I'm not dumping classes altogether, just cutting down from 4 classes a week to 1 or 2 classes a week. I'm also not going to slack off on yoga. I'm going to practice at home on my own.
Somehow I've made myself feel obligated to be a regular student to a few teachers classes when there is nothing wrong with dropping in whenever I feel like it, so that's what I'm going to do.
I've had this happen a few times before. Deciding what to cut out is always the hardest part. Sometimes it's been WoW raids, sometimes it's been yoga classes, sometimes I've resisted cutting stuff out and burned out to the point where I don't do either for a week or so. If only I could cut out work days, haha I wish.
Cutting out yoga classes is hard. Am I justifying being lazy or is this a good idea for me? I filled out my form for teacher training where we need a minimum of 25 yoga classes during the course of the training (9 months) and 7 months in I had attended 60 or so classes. That's great and all, especially as I was learning what this Ashtanga stuff is all about, but I'm at a point where I should practice more on my own rather than depending on a teacher and a group.
I love practicing in a group. There's a wonderful energy, a teacher to guide me and correct me, and people who love yoga like me to become friends with, but it's a huge time commitment and an awful drive during rush hour. I'm not dumping classes altogether, just cutting down from 4 classes a week to 1 or 2 classes a week. I'm also not going to slack off on yoga. I'm going to practice at home on my own.
Somehow I've made myself feel obligated to be a regular student to a few teachers classes when there is nothing wrong with dropping in whenever I feel like it, so that's what I'm going to do.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Yay Spring!
Spring officially begins in 10 days, but the weather seems to be perfect already. This winter was more of an actual winter than San Antonio is used to and I'm happy to see it go.
I have new spring skirts that I got to start wearing yesterday — bright floral fluffy cotton skirts that I could easily wear along the beach in flip flops, but I wear them to work because I can. They're so comfortable that I don't change out of them when I get home from work, and they're cute too.
Yesterday on my way out of the office, I bumped into a chatty lady who was also taking the stairs instead of the elevator. After we got out of the building and passed over the smokers (we can see them a floor below us over the railing) she turned to me and said, "There are those people killing themselves with cigarettes." I was stunned that she said that to a stranger like that, but I agreed and figured since she started it, I could take it a step further, "Yeah, I feel the same way about junk food." She was surprised and said, "I never thought of it like that, but it is the same kind of thing isn't it? I'll have to stop eating that stuff." Wow. That was a great feeling for me. I don't expect this lady to throw away all of her Oreos and Cheetos, but I did get her to think about it in a new way.
Most people are very defensive of their terribly disgusting food to the point of giving me a hard time for what I eat. I don't lecture people or try to make them feel bad. I just eat what I eat, and that bothers them. They know it's bad for them, but if everyone else is doing the same thing it's somehow ok, so when someone else is doing it right, it annoys them.
I feel like junk food is the new cigarettes. People are realizing how bad junk food is and I hope that someday it will be as obviously stupid as smoking. I also wonder if there's something else in our daily lives that will be so obviously bad for us that it's stupid to do it that we don't know about yet. Caffeine maybe? I like caffeine...
I have new spring skirts that I got to start wearing yesterday — bright floral fluffy cotton skirts that I could easily wear along the beach in flip flops, but I wear them to work because I can. They're so comfortable that I don't change out of them when I get home from work, and they're cute too.
Yesterday on my way out of the office, I bumped into a chatty lady who was also taking the stairs instead of the elevator. After we got out of the building and passed over the smokers (we can see them a floor below us over the railing) she turned to me and said, "There are those people killing themselves with cigarettes." I was stunned that she said that to a stranger like that, but I agreed and figured since she started it, I could take it a step further, "Yeah, I feel the same way about junk food." She was surprised and said, "I never thought of it like that, but it is the same kind of thing isn't it? I'll have to stop eating that stuff." Wow. That was a great feeling for me. I don't expect this lady to throw away all of her Oreos and Cheetos, but I did get her to think about it in a new way.
Most people are very defensive of their terribly disgusting food to the point of giving me a hard time for what I eat. I don't lecture people or try to make them feel bad. I just eat what I eat, and that bothers them. They know it's bad for them, but if everyone else is doing the same thing it's somehow ok, so when someone else is doing it right, it annoys them.
I feel like junk food is the new cigarettes. People are realizing how bad junk food is and I hope that someday it will be as obviously stupid as smoking. I also wonder if there's something else in our daily lives that will be so obviously bad for us that it's stupid to do it that we don't know about yet. Caffeine maybe? I like caffeine...
Friday, March 5, 2010
Worst Workday Ever
Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. I've been working on a 360-page document full of MathType and jpegs trying to get it perfectly perfect, and when I had it ALMOST perfect BAM stuff went horribly wrong with the files...twice.
Thanks to some wonderful coworkers and my 13-hour day today. The deadline will be met with 100% quality.
Apparently I was obviously frazzled. I was literally holding back the tears. It was really frustrating. People kept offering me food and chocolate. I wasn't hungry, I didn't need candy. What I need is a hot bath with essential oils.
Brad's at home waiting to cater to my every whim. He always does this for me after a bad day. I think I'll just let him keep playing XBox so I can do some yoga and take that bath, but it is sweet of him to be so willing to spoil me.
I'm so glad tomorrow is yoga nidra day at teacher training, and that I don't have to miss teacher training to get my work done. I have perfect attendance, and I intend to keep it that way unless I get REALLY, REALLY sick. :-)
My file just finished printing! WHOOOO Going home!
Thanks to some wonderful coworkers and my 13-hour day today. The deadline will be met with 100% quality.
Apparently I was obviously frazzled. I was literally holding back the tears. It was really frustrating. People kept offering me food and chocolate. I wasn't hungry, I didn't need candy. What I need is a hot bath with essential oils.
Brad's at home waiting to cater to my every whim. He always does this for me after a bad day. I think I'll just let him keep playing XBox so I can do some yoga and take that bath, but it is sweet of him to be so willing to spoil me.
I'm so glad tomorrow is yoga nidra day at teacher training, and that I don't have to miss teacher training to get my work done. I have perfect attendance, and I intend to keep it that way unless I get REALLY, REALLY sick. :-)
My file just finished printing! WHOOOO Going home!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Pull Ups are Hard
On the advice of Doug Swensen, that was reinforced by Carl, I decided to get a pull-up bar. It came in yesterday, and I excitedly forced Brad to stop playing XBox long enough to put it together for me.
I was curious about how good I'd be at pull ups. I wasn't good at them back when I did them in school, and I hadn't tried since then, so I didn't have high expections. However, I do have more strength than I've ever had before in my life, and I was curious how much of that would carry over. Not much.
The purpose of doing pull ups is to do the exact opposite of a vinyasa to keep the muscles balanced. Balanced muscles is a very good thing. I tried as hard as I could to do a pull up until I realized that I wasn't able to breath very well while trying. Not breathing is bad. I ended up dangling from the bar figuring that my muscles could use the practice in simply holding me up. Then I lifted my knees to my chest. Oooooh that works my abs nicely too.
Today I'm a little sore. Not miserable like I overdid it, just a little like I used my muscles in a new way. That's the whole point, and it means that my dangling is worthwhile as I gradually build up to more. I'm content with danging and lifting my knees as long as I do it consistently every day, and continually try to do more as long as I can still smile and breathe.
One thing that's neat and unexpected, but makes sense is that my hands are sore. The muscles that grip things. Either they're pretty weak because I don't grip things that much or I white-knuckled it a little too much. hmmmm
I was curious about how good I'd be at pull ups. I wasn't good at them back when I did them in school, and I hadn't tried since then, so I didn't have high expections. However, I do have more strength than I've ever had before in my life, and I was curious how much of that would carry over. Not much.
The purpose of doing pull ups is to do the exact opposite of a vinyasa to keep the muscles balanced. Balanced muscles is a very good thing. I tried as hard as I could to do a pull up until I realized that I wasn't able to breath very well while trying. Not breathing is bad. I ended up dangling from the bar figuring that my muscles could use the practice in simply holding me up. Then I lifted my knees to my chest. Oooooh that works my abs nicely too.
Today I'm a little sore. Not miserable like I overdid it, just a little like I used my muscles in a new way. That's the whole point, and it means that my dangling is worthwhile as I gradually build up to more. I'm content with danging and lifting my knees as long as I do it consistently every day, and continually try to do more as long as I can still smile and breathe.
One thing that's neat and unexpected, but makes sense is that my hands are sore. The muscles that grip things. Either they're pretty weak because I don't grip things that much or I white-knuckled it a little too much. hmmmm
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Yoga at Work
I changed things up a little with yoga at work, but not so much that it was a shock to me or my students. I like the idea of introducing new concepts gradually so it doesn't feel like the same old thing over and over again. That's hard to do with an Ashtanga-based class, but since I'm not restricting myself to exact Ashtanga, it's very possible. It just requires me to think, prepare, and continually step up to a new level, so I'm never too used to the same thing, always learning something new to pass on to the class.
The aromatherapy and music were a big hit for not a whole lot of effort. I enjoy playing with aromatherapy oils and people were really impressed that I mixed it myself (quiet whisper: it's really very easy).
They also liked beginning with the Moon Salutation and then doing the Sun Salutations. I did Chandra Namaskara A twice, then Surya Namaskara A twice, then Surya Namaskara B twice. I think it was neat to have the variety. People seem to get this "oh no, not again" face when we do Sun Salutations over and over again. It also helped warm them up more gradually than just diving into Sun Salutations.
Next time I'll toss in Chandra Namaskara B too. I ordered Vinyasa Krama which includes more information about the Chandra Sequence. Right now I'm getting it off of a poster, which I find tedious and a little frustrating. I can't look at a poster while practicing very easily, and the book should have more information.
In the end, I had that "awwwww man, I don't have enough time to teach everything I want to teach" feeling instead of, "hmmmmmm how do I fill the next 20 minutes..." That was a great feeling to have, and made me feel like I'm really finding my groove.
I thought it was really neat that the class was half men. It really bothers me that yoga has been feminized to the point that some men aren't comfortable doing yoga. I even considered it as a thesis topic or at least as part of a thesis on common misconceptions about yoga. Yoga and Pilates were both invented by men, for men. Women weren't even allowed to do yoga at first.
Some people blame the Western culture for yoga becoming "feminine," but I try to be careful throwing the blame on the West so easily without further research. I think it's very interesting that Pilates and Yoga both have the same issue. Pilates was invented in the West (Germany) by a man to help soldiers (men) recover after WWI.
In light of all that, it really is great to see men practicing yoga. They also openly enjoyed the aromatherapy and asked for more after class.
I'm really getting into yoga music, trying to figure out what I like. I spent several hours of today listening to the previews of yoga music on iTunes and chatting with other yoga teachers about what kind of music they like. Currently playing: Yoga Groove and loving it.
The aromatherapy and music were a big hit for not a whole lot of effort. I enjoy playing with aromatherapy oils and people were really impressed that I mixed it myself (quiet whisper: it's really very easy).
They also liked beginning with the Moon Salutation and then doing the Sun Salutations. I did Chandra Namaskara A twice, then Surya Namaskara A twice, then Surya Namaskara B twice. I think it was neat to have the variety. People seem to get this "oh no, not again" face when we do Sun Salutations over and over again. It also helped warm them up more gradually than just diving into Sun Salutations.
Next time I'll toss in Chandra Namaskara B too. I ordered Vinyasa Krama which includes more information about the Chandra Sequence. Right now I'm getting it off of a poster, which I find tedious and a little frustrating. I can't look at a poster while practicing very easily, and the book should have more information.
In the end, I had that "awwwww man, I don't have enough time to teach everything I want to teach" feeling instead of, "hmmmmmm how do I fill the next 20 minutes..." That was a great feeling to have, and made me feel like I'm really finding my groove.
I thought it was really neat that the class was half men. It really bothers me that yoga has been feminized to the point that some men aren't comfortable doing yoga. I even considered it as a thesis topic or at least as part of a thesis on common misconceptions about yoga. Yoga and Pilates were both invented by men, for men. Women weren't even allowed to do yoga at first.
Some people blame the Western culture for yoga becoming "feminine," but I try to be careful throwing the blame on the West so easily without further research. I think it's very interesting that Pilates and Yoga both have the same issue. Pilates was invented in the West (Germany) by a man to help soldiers (men) recover after WWI.
In light of all that, it really is great to see men practicing yoga. They also openly enjoyed the aromatherapy and asked for more after class.
I'm really getting into yoga music, trying to figure out what I like. I spent several hours of today listening to the previews of yoga music on iTunes and chatting with other yoga teachers about what kind of music they like. Currently playing: Yoga Groove and loving it.
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