4 Common Yoga Myths - Busted!

Myth 1:  You have to be flexible and "in shape" to do yoga.

We’ve all seen pictures of yogis with legs bent around shoulders and feet by their heads.  But that level of flexibility—or any, for that matter—isn’t necessary to begin a yoga practice.  Rather, a regular yoga practice is an excellent way to ease into a fitter, more flexible body (and mind).  Keep your attention on your own mat and your own body, don’t worry about what’s happening around you, and let the practice work.  It’s not necessary to work into the “full expression” of a pose in order to reap its benefits; your body will tell you where it wants to go and where it needs to stop. And if you need an inspirational story, follow the link.

Myth 2:  Yoga is just a bunch of sitting around and stretching.

Well, yes…we do sit, and we do stretch during a yoga practice, and some styles are more passive than others.  Many styles (Vinyasa, for example) link postures with breath to create a continuous flow of movement that warms the body quickly and can, frankly, be one way to incorporate cardio into your exercise routine.  Once the warm up is over, there is generally a series of standing poses that challenge our strength, balance, and resolve.  After this a class will generally move onto the floor for a series of more passive, though not easy, poses.

Myth 3:  Guys don’t practice yoga.

Sure they do!  While it is often the case that yoga classes (especially in the West) are primarily populated by women, yoga began (thousands of years ago) as a practice for men.  But this is neither here nor there—anyone can reap the benefits of a practice that offers a stronger body, more focused mind, and more open heart.

Myth 4:  Yoga is boring.

It is often said that the ultimate goal of the physical practice of yoga (insofar as there is one) the ability to sit quietly and meditate.  Meditation requires a disciplined, quiet mind.  Bryan Kest, a talented teacher out of SoCal who gave a master class at Vibe last spring, made the bold claim that we don’t actually want to quiet our minds.  He explained that we are addicted to our drama because without the constant mental stimulus of stress and anxiety, we feel bored.  But without it, we might also feel happier and more grounded.  Maybe the potential boredom is worth it.

Notes from a Yoga-Crier

Sometimes it’s a sad song during pigeon.  Sometimes it’s a heart-opening backbend.  Sometimes it’s the wringing-out action of series of twists.  And sometimes the teacher says just the right/wrong thing during the opening meditation, and there they are…tears.

Not everyone cries during yoga.  Some people cry almost every time they practice.  Neither is right or wrong.  Neither means that you are more advanced in your practice because you can a) hold it together or b) access your emotions.  Like so many other aspects of yoga, it is what it is for you on any given day. 

Many students have noticed that there’s a moment during which they can make a choice—to cry or not to cry.  To hold it in or to let it go.  And while it can feel a little odd to do something so personal in a public place, your mat is a sacred space on which you can do what you need to do and feel what you need to feel without considering/recourse to anyone else’s thoughts or judgments.  Chances are, other students don’t even notice what you’re doing because their attention is on what’s happening on their own mats.  And if it isn’t, it should be (I don’t like to invoke a “should” re: yoga, but this one stands).  The teacher might notice, and might offer you a facecloth, or might even place a hand on your shoulder as a way of showing support.  He or she knows about how the physical practice can interact with the emotional and energetic body, and will certainly offer you some compassion.  This is all to say that if you need to release some emotion, a yoga class is a perfectly valid place in which to do it.  It's your practice--cry if you want to.

The Third Chakra - The Core

So, what’s a chakra?  Chakras (there are seven) are energy centers.  Often described as wheels or vortices, the chakras send energy out from the subtle, energetic body into the physical body in a whirling pattern.  According to various eastern philosophical traditions, when the chakras are spinning as they should, the physical body, the emotions, and all other aspects of life are in balance.  When they are over- or under-active, injuries, illnesses, and emotional disturbances can manifest.  Caroline Myss offers a comprehensive explanation of the chakras (and a fun flash presentation) on her website.

Today, let’s skip to the third chakra.  The manipura chakra.  This one is located in the solar plexus…in the gut.  It’s the seat of our power, self-esteem, personal boundaries and identity, our ethos…  It’s the core.

Here at Vibe, we hear a lot about the core.  There is a “core” section in every class we do, and to be honest, the first few times I practiced here, that really bothered me.  It didn’t feel like yoga to me—it felt like exercise.  Working muscles for the sheer sake of making them stronger or more attractive struck me (and sometimes still strikes me) as narcissistic and ego-driven…not yogic. 

But, there’s a lot to be said for having a strong core, and not just in terms of being able to hold ourselves in arm-balances and standing poses.  The manipura chakra, as the energetic core, also offers strength and balance in other aspects of our lives.  If we have strong cores—knowing who we are, what we believe, how to honor and value ourselves—we’ll be better equipped to weather the challenges that are an inevitable part of being alive. 

Maybe in this way our core-centered yoga and Pilates classes can become points of access for tapping into our intuition, building self-esteem, recognizing and respecting our boundaries as well as building physical strength.  Thoughts, yogis?

On falling and failing...

The first time I tried to go up into a tripod headstand was in a Hot Fusion class. I had only recently resumed a regular practice, and my body was still getting used to working in a heated room. For those of you who haven’t taken Hot Fusion, it’s a set sequence—the same poses every time. Midway through each class, we find ourselves in prasarita padottanasana (wide-legged forward bend), head reaching down to the mat…sweat dripping into the eyes…at which point the teacher will often offer the option of lifting the legs into tripod headstand. On this particular night, the teacher, let’s say her name rhymes with Erin, saw that my head was close to the floor and came over to spot me. I could hear her voice as she crouched down next to me, directing me to ground down through my hands, pull my shoulders away from my ears, and lift my feet up off the floor. “You’ve got this. Your hips are already on top of your shoulders. Just lift up your feet,” she urged calmly. And I tried. I think I made it onto the tips of my toes before I freaked out and had to spend some time in child’s pose. But she saw that I could do it. When she looked at me, she saw an aligned body, strong shoulders, and potential. When I looked at myself, however, the picture was a bit different. I saw a woman with no upper body strength and a weak core who would never be able to hold herself up. And isn’t that what it’s about? Don’t we all want to feel that we can hold ourselves up?

This comes up for me, and for other students, all the time as we plant our hands firmly on the floor and try to convince ourselves to tip forward far enough to find our balance-point in crow, or to kick up into handstand. But it’s scary! If you’re looking down, all you can see is your mat getting closer and closer to your face (one of many reasons to look forward rather than down), and then the breath gets shallow, and the mind (not the body) convinces you to come out of the pose. What is this fear? Is it a fear of falling? Perhaps, but what’s beneath that? Is it a fear of physical injury? But that’s possible in every moment of our lives (really, there’s a good chance I’m damaging my spine just by sitting this way and typing). Is this fear of falling maybe more a fear of not being able to hold ourselves up, of letting ourselves down in a very literal way?

This might not be your experience of the inversion-learning process, but that just means there’s probably something else there for you to take away from it. The bottom line: This practice is here to teach us. Yes, it gives us sweet biceps and defined back muscles and “yoga butt,” but (MUCH more importantly) it gives us the opportunity to observe our minds and the mental patterns we tend toward. It gives us a starting point for growth.

SEVA SOUND BOARD

“Anyone can be great because anyone can serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” -MLK Jr.

What does “selfless service” mean to you?
Seva, a Sanskrit word springs from two forms of yoga: karma yoga (yoga of action) and bhakti yoga (yoga of worship inspired by divine love). Seva asks, “how can I help you?” or “how may I serve you today?” and does not expect to be paid back in return. We experience our interdependence when each of us fulfills our duties as a family member, friend, partner, parent and above all – as a member of society. When we perform duties not thinking of the reward, but as a contribution to life, we renew our spirit of seva. From this perspective, seva is an attitude and consciousness we bring to what we do.
In Sanskrit, seva means “string”: symbolizing the interconnectedness of our being and our action. We are the beginning of the string, with the capability of reaching out to all corners of the earth. By practicing yoga, we are nurturing ourselves physically and mentally so that we may be of service to others. We are taking our yoga practice off the mat and into the world.
Vibe Yoga Studio strives to empower clients and teachers alike with the spirit of service. At Vibe, we are always looking to extend our string of seva with local businesses in Bloomington. We are so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with and support organizations like Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County, Community Kitchens, Hoosier Hills Food Bank, IU Outdoor Adventures, Wonderlab and United Way in 2011.
How do you see Vibe Yoga connecting with other organizations in the Bloomington community? How can we roll up our sleeves in selfless service to others and empower people along the way? Use this blog as a sound board for ideas, questions or comments about lengthening our string of connectedness to all corners of Bloomington and beyond.

Sending good Vibes from Bloomington to Nairobi

Last year, my husband Todd and I spent six months living and working in Kenya. During our time there we began practicing yoga and working with the Africa Yoga Project (AYP). Over the last five years AYP has trained more than 40 Kenyans as yoga instructors. AYP’s mission is to use the transformative power of yoga to empower communities and change lives. Their programs foster peace, improve physical, emotional, and mental well being, facilitate self-sufficiency and create opportunities to learn and contribute across the communities of East Africa.

As we came to know the teachers and visited their classes in the slums of Nairobi we were truly inspired by their dedication and service to others. Here in Bloomington we are fortunate enough to have a wonderful studio space at Vibe. We never have to doubt that the space will be clean and comfortable, the floor will be level, and we will all have mats to practice on. That’s not the case in Kenya, where students show up day after day to practice on an uneven dirt floor, often without mats or yoga clothes.

Many of us have experienced first hand the many benefits of a yoga practice in helping us build strength and find clam and balance in your lives. However, in the U.S most of us practice in calm, comfortable well accessorized studios. That’s not to say that we are not challenged and given the opportunity to be inspired by each other and so many wonderful teachers, but our time with the Africa Yoga Project showed us how powerful yoga can be for everyone – anywhere. In Kenya we found a gritty, enduring, and dedicated group of young people bringing yoga to their communities in the face of tremendous challenges – challenges that are hard for us, coming from a place of such relative wealth, to even fathom.

The teachers of the Africa Yoga Project have been empowered by their yoga training and are now bringing that empowerment to their communities – the urban slums of Nairobi and the rural Maasai villages of Amboseli. The urban slums are chaotic patchworks of homes and livelihoods, lacking nearly all public services that we take for granted – clean drinking water running from multiple taps in our home, consistent electricity, in-door plumbing and city-wide sewage treatment, garbage collection, paved streets, sidewalks and more. When we walked through these communities, yoga, finding peace, or taking a deep breath were the last things that came to our minds.

The teachers of AYP showed us that compassionate service to others brings hope, joy, and love to people who are facing what seem to be unconquerable odds. Through their on-going dedication to their communities, the AYP teachers bring smiles and a sense of accomplishment to children of all ages; they bring a sense of solidarity to those who feel isolated by their HIV status; they bring empowerment to single mothers, and renewed hope for the future to recovering addicts. You can see portraits of these teachers in the display case at Vibe and look for a book of them coming out later this year.

We witnessed the AYP teachers’ unwavering perseverance and peace in the midst of chaos, fear, and poverty, as well as the positive impact they are having in their communities. In addition to the benefits yoga has brought to the teachers and their communities AYP has built two classrooms and refurbished 5 others, they partner with a women’s micro-finance group to provide sustainable livelihoods, and they brought yoga classes to the refugee camps after the 2008 post-election violence in Kenya as a way to promote peace and reconciliation.

This is why we have continued to work with AYP and this summer my husband and I will be leading a group of yogis from around the world on a 12-day “Seva Safari”. Vibe yoga instructor Jennie Anderson will be joining us on this service trip. We will be building a new community center in Kibera, Kenya’s largest slum. The community center will provide a space for AYP teachers to teach free community yoga classes, as well as a meeting place for one of AYP’s partner organizations, Shining Hope for Communities, which runs a local girl’s primary school and health clinic. We will work alongside the AYP yoga teachers and students to build the community center. This is a great opportunity for the Vibe yoga community to participate in the practice of seva, the yogic idea of service, at the global level.

If you are interested in learning more about AYP’s Seva Safari trip go to:
https://regonline.com/seva_safari

Spots remain if you wish to join us on the trip!

To read more about AYP’s work go to:
http://africayogaproject.org/


You can also be involved in this powerful opportunity right here from Bloomington by helping support these efforts. On an average day what will you spend $2 on? Maybe a mat rental, a bottle of water or a coffee? In Kenya 40% of the population lives on less than $2 per day. Any contribution that you can make to help support this project will go a long way. Your donations will go towards helping construct the community center and ensuring AYP’s long-term positive impact in the communities in Kenya. Contributions can be placed in the donation jar on the display case at Vibe.

Additionally, Vibe is selling AYP “namaste” t-shirts, with the proceeds going to support this project in particular. You can also contribute by attending the upcoming DJ donation class on March 13th at Vibe. Bring a friend! Look for other upcoming events this spring for ways to get involved.

Videos: Here is a link to part of a documentary on AYP
http://vimeo.com/15808752

Restorative Yoga

Hi everyone! As the teacher of Restorative yoga every Sunday, I just wanted to give Restorative a shout-out on the Vibe Yoga blog!

Why make the time for Restorative Yoga?

Our personal well-being can suffer if we don't take time for relaxation. A stress reaction is a very physiological, as well as psychological, result of our interpretation of the world. Dislike for a boss, anger at a friend, being too overwhelmed with this or that to get enough sleep creates stress reactions. These are commonly known stressors, but they can actually be categorized as distress, or bad stress. The same harmful stress reactions occur with eustress, or good stress. A new relationship, planning a wedding, or preparing for a new baby also create stress reactions in our bodies and minds.

Regardless of type, any stress can take a toll on each and every one of us as we move through our day-to-day lives. Judith Lasater, author of Relax and Renew states that "a life lived on overload affects health, sexual function, reproduction, relationships, job performance, athletic performance, and most important, one's sense of self."

Don't worry, there is a simple solution to creating a more well-rounded well being: Relaxation! Relaxation is the antidote to stress reactions. As I hinted at earlier, the mind and body are very connected. Stress in one creates stress in the other, thus, relaxing one will, in turn, help relax the other. I think this is the premise of Restorative yoga, and this is how I teach each Sunday evening: as a relaxation, rejuvenation, and renewal for mind and body.

What can I expect?

In each of my Restorative classes, I strive to create an atmosphere of peace: low, relaxing music, candlelight, and tons of props! I usually start with some simple, gentle movements—some spinal stretching and twisting, one downward dog, some lengthening of normally tight muscles. I like to do this to work out the restlessness, fidgety-ness, and busy-ness of our bodies, to warm the muscles and create space in the body to prepare for relaxation. Then we can settle in.

There are a handful of key Restorative poses. I try to mix these up a little, but there is so much benefit in them already. I figure, why reinvent the wheel? In these poses, which we stay in for 5-10 minutes each, props are used to provide comfort and support. Props include blankets, to bolsters blocks, to straps.

What is Restorative yoga?

Yoga is and has always been about more than asanas. Yoga is used in India to prepare the body for meditation, so one can meditate without distraction, without the nagging neck stiffness or restlessness legs. What about preparing the mind for relaxation? Every one of us has a mind that can run rampant if allowed, thinking of this, worrying about that, regretting this, thinking "I need to do" that. It's exhausting! Yoga itself is about stilling the mind to bring rest. Rest is different than sleep. Being able to rest quietly in the present moment is the ultimate goal of Restorative yoga.

With time and practice, you will be rewarded with the ability to drop with ease into a place of deep contentment—both on and off your mat.

I am committed to help you along in your process of relaxation training and exploration of mind and body relaxation, renewal, and rejuvenation in Restorative yoga. I am ALWAYS open to feedback to improve my class for you, so feel free to let me know what you do like, don't like, and want more of!

See you all on Sunday!

Best and Namaste,

Brenna*