It’s Time for Gratitude

Photo by Piero Sierra

Oprah once said:

“If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more.
If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough.”

It’s almost Thanksgiving—a time when we as a country collectively give thanks. Thanksgiving and Valentines Day are both celebrations created to ensure that we become mindful of the people we love and the life that we live at least for one day.

I love everything about Thanksgiving from the colors, food, family time and football. Being mindful is the process of being completely present. Take time this season to be present. Look at the sky, feel the cool, crisp air, smell the aromas of the food cooking in the kitchen, listen to the leaves  crunching, children laughing, football on TV. Take in and appreciate the moment instead of being anxious about the turkey, fretting about fitting everyone around the table, worrying about the family dynamics. Stop and think about what you have and be grateful for those things.

For some, this beginning to the holiday season is not accompanied by joy and excitement but rather by anxiety and sadness.

Whether the holidays bring pleasant or unpleasant reactions, bring yoga with you to help keep you centered.

• Remember to breathe. Take some Ujjayi breaths to release anxiety and center your mind.
• Do some simple inversions and forward bends like down dog, standing forward fold and shoulder stand to create a temporary rise in blood pressure to trigger the body’s natural calming mechanisms.
• Try heart opening poses to counter fatigue and depression like cobra, pigeon, fish, boat, bow and bridge poses.
• To tame feelings of irritability and anxiety use twists, hip opening poses and side bends to help balance your emotions. Try malasana, half lord of the fishes pose and revloved side angle pose to help regulate emotions.

This Thanksgiving bring yoga and mindfulness to the table and see if being grateful comes more easily. Imagine what it would be like to be mindful every day we live and every moment we have with those we love.

I am so grateful for my family and friends that provide me with love and support. I am grateful for my health. I am grateful for my body that has taken me on some great adventures this year. I am thankful for my yoga practice for always changing and encouraging me to grow. I am grateful for you, my readers, and all my little and big yogis for allowing me to teach and learn and share.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Changing Lives With Yoga

Photo by H. Koppdelaney

I was recently asked to participate in a grassroots initiative called LASS (Ladies Attaining Self-Sufficiency). The mission of LASS is to model, teach, and support young ladies (sixth grade city school girls) in attaining self-sufficiency. The program’s goal is to increase positive identity, break down social barriers and define personal values at this impressionable time of these girl’s lives.

The program includes a variety of after school activities that were chosen to help foster relationships and thoughtful decision-making.

I am so honored to be included in this pilot program. Yoga has the ability to transform a person both internally and externally.

Yoga can help change lives in many ways:

• Learning different yoga breathing techniques can help guide a person through many different challenging circumstances. Learning that you are in control of your actions by taking the time to stop and breathe before reacting is empowering. Being able to calm oneself down during a conflict or before an important test can alter the direction of a given situation. Learning breathing techniques and poses that energize one’s body can help eliminate the need or use of less healthy food or chemical choices.

• Through yoga asanas, one is made aware of individual differences and personal strengths. With so many forces in a young girl’s life that are out of their control, it is so vital to for them to find the internal strength that they possess to make the right choices. Through asana a person develops the ability to listen to what one’s body is saying. A pose might generate a feeling of fear (getting up in crow or a headstand) or tension in a certain body part which releases when breath is directed to that area. A warrior series may evoke a sense of strength which is felt from the inside out. This strength can be carried forth throughout one’s day easing one through tough situations.

• Learning relaxation techniques during savasana can help relieve tension and stress that accumulates throughout the day. Practiced before bed, relaxation techniques can release the pressures of the day allowing for a fully rejuvinating sleep that all teens need. When rested, being mindful and aware is easier which leads to better choices.

I am planning on working on breathing techniques, sun salutations, group and partner poses and relaxation techniques. I hope to ignite an interest in yoga, but more importantly, an awareness of personal strength in which each girl holds ready to tap.

How the Flu Made Life Better

Photo by Andrew J. Cosgriff

I just completed my first marathon less than two weeks ago. I should be feeling invincible. But I don’t. 26.2 miles couldn’t stop me but the flu just kicked me in the pants. It was inevitable. The Tuesday after my race I found myself completely depleted after coming off of the final adrenaline surge of my accomplishment. I also found myself sitting in the waiting room of the pediatricians office – the dreaded petri dish. My son complained of a sore throat after having his classmate come down with strep the day before so I knew I had to take my chances. I didn’t touch anything. I used hand sanitizer. I found myself inside the same office four days later to have my daughter inoculated for the swine flu. It only took us one day after that for us all to come down with the fever, cough and terrible chills. Murphy’s Law.

There is a positive in this situation. Between shivering under the covers and the Tylenol kicking in, I had time to catch up on my favorite blogs and take care of some housecleaning and organizing that just never gets to the top of the list.

One of the things that I learned while stuck at home this week is that sometimes you have to start over.

I was reading some old posts from a new blog favorite, Mama-Om. Stacy gives great examples of being present in our children’s daily lives. It made me start to think about how I’ve wasted many connecting opportunities with my kids lately. I have always allowed the kids a little TV decompression time. When the kids sit to watch their two shows, I disappear upstairs to my computer. Time disappears for us all until we are in a frantic rush trying to get ready for whatever is next – dinner making, practice, lessons. This chaotic energy follows us through homework, getting ready for the next morning and all the way until bedtime.

I have been finding that my kids are always in a conflict and that interactions with my son have been ending in mutually frustrated feelings.

I decided to start again with a no TV rule on weekdays. It has only been two days but the difference is noticeable.

• My kids (four years apart and opposite sexes) have started finding ways to play together again instead of squabbling.
• More books were read and instruments were picked up and played.
• The three of us spent time playing board games, reading together, laughing, appreciating and relishing the time spent together.
• All of the sudden there was ample time to get everything done without that feeling of the clock ticking.
• I was more present and able to see some teachable moments in school stories that were shared or during interactions between the kids.

It is not that the TV time took over the whole day (it was only 1 hour) but after being in school for 7 hours that extra lack of connection by zoning out in front of the screen created an energy that tainted the way we related to each other for the rest of the day. Habits are easily created and often hard to break, but it is possible to start over.

Yoga and My Marathon Story

Creative commons photo by ctanstfl on flickr

I have to apologize for not writing. Apparently not only did my body need time to recover after running a marathon but I found that my mind needed a break as well. I have never felt as absent minded as I did this week. I felt like I was one step away from where I always needed to be. I had a really hard time getting my thoughts from my head into the computer. Maybe it was the race or maybe the pre and post race lack of sleep, but I finally (after almost a week) feel ready to write.

So did yoga help my race. 100%. I don’t think I would have had the race that I did if I didn’t practice yoga and bring my yoga with me on race day.

Saturday before the race I did a 20 minute yoga practice in my hotel room. I warmed up with sun salutations and then listened to my body to see what it needed. I lingered in my down dogs to ease my tight calve muscles. I balanced in flying pigeon and rested in half pigeon opening my hips. I held an alternate pigeon pose to stretch deep into my ilio psoas. I lifted my hips in bridge, rocked gently in happy baby, helped my feet by holding a nice long shoulder stand. Then I rested in savasana while listening to a marathon meditation on my ipod from Stin Hansen.

That night, although tired from walking around DC, I barely slept. I listened to sleep meditations, anxiety meditations and pre-race meditations. I placed my hand on my stomach and focused on my breath and finally rested until the 5am wake up call’s shrill ring jolted me up and out of bed.

Race morning. I took a lot of long deep breaths. Avoiding butterflies by breathing fully into my stomach I made it to the race coral with my friends and waited to begin the adventure.

I tried to be present. I tried really hard to pay attention to the people, the soldiers, the fans and the sights. This race has 300,000 people watching and helping. It has almost 30,000 people running. I loved every minute of it. Well at least until about mile 19. It was then that I saw someone with a sign that said something like ” You will soon see a wall”. I was warned that a lot of people hit the wall at the 14th Street Bridge. I was told that on the bridge people begin to walk or stop to stretch. I was told that my mind would tell me to stop and walk and stretch too. I felt my left knee beginning to talk to me. I breathed into my knee. I felt a side stitch on my right and breathed into that side. I felt a side stitch on the other side and breathed into that side. I started to count to 100 over and over and over. I wished I had a yoga affirmation or sanskrit saying to use as a mantra but instead the only thing I could do was count. I counted myself over the bridge and through mile 25 until I knew success was ahead. I bounded up the final hill to the finish and became a marathoner.

I finished in 4 hours and 7 minutes. I almost made my goal and I finished feeling really good. I had the usual post race pain which I tried to help by lying in legs up the wall pose. I stretched my aching quads using dancer pose and tried stretching my overworked hips by doing a sitting version of pigeon and hanging in rag doll. I had the usual trouble walking up and down stairs for a couple of days but have been amazed by the speed of my recovery. I am ready to write and I am ready run again. Everyone has their own marathon story. No one experiences the marathon in the same way. My marathon story is a yoga story.

Race Day on the Horizon

I’ve put in the training and now am counting down the clock until Sunday. Race Day.

As I prepare to travel to run the Marine Corps Marathon, I am finding my thoughts very scattered. Going from what I need to pack, to the weekend schedule I need to write for my parents who are watching my children, to the errands that need to be done before I leave, to my son’s swim practice and homework afterward, to the question of whether there is time to go out to eat or whether it is wiser to just stay in for dinner… and what would I make if we did. I actually was in my car twice today on my way to do an errand with out really knowing where I was going or what I was getting.

I am not in the moment. I am already running this race. Stop. Breathe. Focus on right now.

It is so hard to not project into the future. I know that if I think about right now, it will all come together. If I think too far in advance, I will overlook something or everything. This goes for race day. If I run this race with my mind on that finish line or the potential obstacles that may prevent me or impede me from reaching the end, I will not have experienced my first marathon. If I drive in autopilot without being present I miss everything, even the purpose of the journey.

I have a number in mind that I’d love to see when crossing the finish line. But my real goal will be to be present throughout the race. If I experience the fans, the sights and the music while finding “the zone”, that place where you lose yourself in the action, that will be a true race day success in my eyes.

Family Yoga

Why do family yoga? To both deepen the connection with those you love in a playful way while deepening your stretches in poses with the help of your all too eager family members.

I spent an hour Saturday teaching a family yoga class. My family joined me making it very special. There were 6 families and we started out placing mats in a giant circle with each family grouped together to make family/partner poses easier. The ages ran from 3-adult which created a very fun and dynamic mix of energy. Here is the sequence of the class:

Breathing Exercises

• We started using slinkies to help us visualize our lungs expanding and contracting with breath.
• Then each family partnered up to do some back breathing using the slow breath that we practiced first.
• We began to link body and breath with sunrise/sunset pose – starting in child’s pose, inhale and rise on your knees extending your hands above your head like the sun rising and then reverse the direction ending back in child’s pose.
• Finally, we did some cat/cows linking breath to each pose.

Sun Salutations

• Kids helped show their parents how we reach to the sun and then say “hi” to our toes.
• We hissed in cobra and barked in down dog. The poses may not be difficult but it is sometimes hard for us adults to let go and act like a kid and see the fun in something that we usually take seriously.

We focused more on Downward Facing Dog while listening to “Who Let the Dogs Out”.

• We lifted a leg to shake our tail. We brought our knee toward our opposite wrist and then lengthened our leg back behind us and then brought our knee toward the same wrist then lengthened it out again.
• We rested in child’s pose.
• Then we got wild and flipped our dogs saying hi to our families.

I then led everyone on a sequence with some tropical island flair.

• We listened to steel drums while breathing like elephants, picking bananas like monkeys, stalking prey like tigers, slinking around like lizards, hissing like cobras and drinking water like giraffes.

We spent the rest of the time doing family partner poses.

• Sitting on a rock. One person rests in child’s pose (usually the larger adult) while another family member aligns the pant line of their pants with that of the person on the floor and gently sits. The person on the bottom gets a deeper spine stretch. Be careful if you have knee issues.
• Lizard sunbathing on a rock. Starting in the same position with one person in child’s pose, the second person furthers their stretch by lying down head to head and extending their arms side to side.
• Down dog tunnels. Everyone lines up side to side in downdog and everyone takes turns slinking through the tunnel and getting back into downdog.
• Double down dogs. One person gets into down dog. The second person stands at the feet of their partner and faces away. Then the second person slowly lifts their feet onto the sacrum (pant line) of the first and gets into their own down dog.
• Group tree. Touching palms everyone lifts into tree pose, raising hands into the air.
• Group airplane. Everyone comes into a circle and gets into airplane with hands reaching out toward each other.
• Group boat. In a circle everyone does boat with feet touching and holding hands.
• Group flower. In a circle everyone starts in butterfly pose with feet touching, then slip arms through legs and grab a hold of  the hands next to you.
• Partner boat. Holding hands facing each other with leg bent, extend legs up together while balancing on sit bones.
• We ended the group poses with each family creating a unique pose of their choice.

We played a breathing game with each family trying to keep a scarf up in the air with their breath.

And finished with savasana.

It was a really wonderful way to spend time with my family while sharing the joy of yoga.

Some of the resources that I used to help gather ideas for this class were a dvd called Yoga for Families led by Ingrid Von Burg and a great book called Playful Family Yoga by Teressa Asencia.

Teaching Yoga With Props

Photo by Amanda Hirsch

As I have posted previously, teaching yoga to kids is very different than teaching adults. It is yoga play and typically proper alignment is not stressed. Once a session, however, I take out some props and teach my classes of kids between 5 and 11 some alignment. The kids love it when I bring out the yoga props and although I am speaking alignment, the idea that I am treating them like the adults makes this class special in their eyes. The props are like presents and the excitement is palpable.

Here is a list of poses that we do using different props:

3 lb Pilates Balls

1. Chair pose with chest press

2. Chair pose with chest press and side leg extensions

3. Partner seated twists – sitting back to back with legs crossed twist to one side to pass the ball and then twist to the other side to retrieve the ball.

4. Standing splits – press ball into the air, lift one leg back as you touch the ball to the floor.

5. Boat pose holding ball

6. Boat pose holding ball to one side and then twisting to the opposite side

7. Standing back to back with feet mat distance apart pass ball back and forth with forward bends between legs and then with a small back bends above head.

Wall

1. Chair pose against the wall

2. Warrior one with foot against the wall

3. Warrior three with foot pressing against the wall

4. Warrior three with finger tips touching the wall

5. Tree pose touching wall

6. Dancer pose facing and touching the wall

7. Half Moon with foot pressing against wall and the use of a block for hand

8. Handstand prep against the wall

9. Tripod headstand against the wall

10. Camel pose with hips against the wall

Blocks

1. Half Moon with foot pressing against the wall and the use of a block under hand

2. Feet up the wall with blocks on feet (avoid if the blocks are too heavy and use hardcover books)

I haven’t used blankets, bolsters or straps with the 5-7 year-olds but the 8-11 year-olds love to use blankets and bolsters during savasana. What I especially like about introducing the wall is that you see the kids take more risks with poses knowing the support is there. The kids all love to try handstands and they really open up in half moon.

We ended classes this week with a lot of giggles doing a group chair pose against the wall – one person starts against the wall and everyone else sits on each others laps. The kids are amazed that they can hold the weight of the entire class on their lap and the occasional falls upon trying to stand back up gets everyone laughing to savasana. I posted a while back about a great “life lesson” using chair pose against the wall. Check it out here.

Namaste.

It’s all about connecting

Photo by D Sharon Pruitt

I’ve been teaching a lot more classes for the younger crowd. Pre-K, Storybook with parent, Mom and Baby. I have loved teaching these little guys. Each week I am slightly surprised to see which classes go swimmingly and which is having an off week. My storybook class has been really fun, fast (just 1/2 an hour) and a great mix of ages from parents of toddlers to 5 year olds. Each class starts with a breathing exercise, a centering song, sun salutation and then we add some new poses and read a story while acting it out with yoga poses, finishing with savasana. The class has been going really smoothly. Today, not so much. I had some new families mixed in with some regulars. It was a good class size. What went wrong? I remember the exact moment when I missed the boat. I had my pre-class music on and I went to change it and it went right to the centering song. I like to start seated, talking through a breathing exercise but I decided to just push along. Mistake. I missed that moment in class when I connect with the kids and parents. I recognize each person and there is an exchange in some way which helps connect them to me and to the class. I missed this key ingredient today and it was noticeable. One of my regular little boys was not interested in participating as much and the newer families also had some reluctant participants. I continued with the class but the energy was just off the whole time.

I remember reading a post from my fellow kids yoga blogger Aruna Humphry that classroom management is not about “controlling” the class but connecting with the class. I totally believe it. To get the respect of your class you first have to “see” the class; its so important to interact with the children so that they know that you’ve really seen them. It is similar to parenting in that if you are always talking to your children with your back to them while doing something else, your children miss the connection although you may have heard what they were saying. Stopping what you are doing, crouching down to their level, looking in their eyes while they talk is a confirmation that they matter and that you both hear and see them.

I found these great classroom management videos on youtube. I love the premise, and, although I have not implemented the ideas yet, I have a plan when the need arises. I would love to hear what other kinds of classroom management techniques people use to connect to their students and keep the class running smoothly. Please share!

The Common Cold

I have finally lost the battle with this cold. Truthfully I don’t think that I was quick enough with my cider vinegar mixture. If consumed when that little tickle just makes itself known, colds seem to disappear before blowing up into the runny nose, tissue crumpling mess that this one has become.

My 5 mile run on Thursday didn’t seem to effect my condition. So thinking that the heat that the running generated went well I decided to take a heated vinyasa class Friday morning before teaching my pre-k yoga class. My body was flowing but then all of the sudden so was my nose. The faucet started to leak and that was it. Cold. Had one.

What do you fellow teachers do when struck with a cold? I didn’t have time on my side to find a sub and truthfully, I have a very limited resource of help. I used hand cleanser and went for it. We had a blast and I didn’t have much of a problem. Took the dog for a walk and then at 7pm all went down hill. My head felt heavy and full, my nose was completely clogged, my husband was waking up somewhere in Asia and the house was out of both tissues and Afrin. Argh.

I went to bed before the kids. My son (bless him) read to my daughter and I tossed and turned until midnight before finally waking up at 4am and then again at 7am when I heard the tv come on downstairs. Having high hopes that rest (inadequate but rest none-the-less) would repair my body so that I could teach today. I was asked to teach the JV soccer team of a local high school and was so looking forward to the experience. Being an athlete, I had so much to share and say. I was going to teach a vinyasa class and then add some partner poses and end with a guided meditation for athletes that I have downloaded by Stin Hansen.

As the morning waned so did my energy. I finally had to call my boss and friend and relinquish my class… I had such mixed feelings. What do others do? Do you teach when sick? Do you suck it up and find the energy? It was my first teen class experience. I didn’t want to disappoint them by not giving them my best, and at the same time, I didn’t want to be spreading this virus around. Please comment on how you handle these kind of situations.

Being social is good for the soul

I recently read a post in the Yoga Calm blog about childhood stress. The ways that yoga helps relieve stress are numerous but today I am not writing about yoga. What caught my attention when reading this post though was a paragraph on how important it is to feel socially connected. Feeling alone translates to feeling helpless and feeling helpless leads to stress.

Last year my son had a socially tough year. Always thinking himself part of the soccer playing recess crowd, he suddenly had to find a new group when his asthma got out of control and the game became a negative experience due to running to the nurse struggling for breath repeatedly. Because of a couple of extra-curricular activities, my work schedule and allergy shots, play dates were just not possible which did not help the friend situation. After almost the entire school year of shadowing the tough kid in the class during recess, he decided to break away from him as he realized that he didn’t want to have that kind of reputation. So he was, by Springtime, more or less alone.

This feeling of lack of connection absolutely lead to feelings of stress. He would say his life was stressful and I would think about his school work and swimming and drum lessons and wonder how? Is he too busy? No, he was feeling alone.

Summer hit and he spent the first three weeks at sailing camp. He started to go to the adult sailboat races with his dad as crew and got to know some of the kids that raced at camp. He was accepted into this very cool group of sailboat racers. He felt connected to a new community. He then went to sleep away camp and was the youngest camper to race sailboats as a hobby and again was accepted by these older campers in their community.

By the time the school year began, my kid was a new boy. He has started this year with a confidence I have never seen before and has taken on student council, safety patrol and band. These new activities, although requiring extra time are not adding to his stress at all. The new activities all create new communities for him to feel a part of and he is off to a year of feeling in control and on top of his world.