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change

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

Change is the one thing we can count on. Everything changes.

Change is good. Change can be hard.

In business, change is essential. It means paying attention to the needs of the organization (organism) and the community, as well as being aware of how the product or service can be fine tuned.

As with everything, it’s an evolution.

We have some exciting changes coming up with our class schedule over the next month; we are also saying goodbye and hello:

Tamara is moving to the Bay Area. We miss her already and wish her all the best.

Meanwhile, Marley has moved here from Baltimore. She walked in and it was as though she was coming home after being gone for a while.

Beginnings and endings for both women, and for us.


The schedule changes below will happen somewhat in stages (dates indicated). By October, we’ll be full swing.

Thank you for your support, patience, feedback, community and love. If you weren’t here, we couldn’t be either.

And now announcing….

—–
Starting Monday, September 13th

Monday/Wednesday 6 am canceled
Tuesday 6-7 am All Yoga 1-3 with Sethyne
Thursday 6-7 am Gentle Flow 1-2 with Silvia
Friday 6-7 am All Yoga Flow 1-3 with Sethyne

Tuesday 7:15 pm All Yoga 1-2/Restorative with Alicia
Thursday 7:15 pm All Yoga 1-3 with Alicia

—–
Starting September 20th

Monday 4:30 pm All Yoga/Yin 1-2 with Bob
Tuesday 5:45 pm All Yoga 1-2 with Kim

—–
Starting September 27th

Monday 7:15 pm Yang Yin 2-3 with Marley

—–
Starting October 5th

Tuesday & Thursday 10-11:15 am All Yoga Flow 2-3 with Marley
Wednesday 8-9:15 am Gentle/Adaptive Yoga 1-2 with Marley

—–
We are also committed to ending classes on time. We respect your schedule and the importance of adhering to advertised class times.

We look forward to the continued evolution of the business and community of It’s All Yoga. Check out the full schedule online for the most current teachers and times. Namaste!

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Posted in business, lifestyle, yoga | 2 Comments »

The Story of Astavakra

Sunday, August 22nd, 2010

Astavakra was a boy born cursed by his father.

While in his mother’s womb, Astavakra corrected his father’s recitation of verses from the Rig Veda, a collection of India’s oldest and most sacred hymns. Enraged, Astavakra’s father cursed him and he was born deformed.

Astavakrasana, or Eight Angle pose, is named for the eight (asta) crooked (vakra) angles of the boy’s limbs. It is an arm balance: a delicate negotiation of strength, flexibility, physics, and faith.

We can learn from Astavakra, who didn’t harbor hard feelings and was a faithful son and disciplined student. He eventually saved his father’s life by winning a debate in the king’s court.

Astavakra was persistent, intelligent, and reminds us to not judge thing by their appearance.

This pose looks very difficult, and while the shape can feel like all arms and legs, if we just know how to arrange them, the pieces can fit together with grace and lightness. We must use Astavakra’s discipline and openness in our approach.

Check out these instructions, or ask at the studio for how-to tips to start building the trust and balance of this fun-flying pose!

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Posted in philosophy, yoga | 2 Comments »

Groovy

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

Why is it so hard to be consistent with my yoga practice?

This is a question I get a lot. It’s a question I ask of myself.

A pattern—whether of thought (the mind coming up with “more important” things to do than yoga) or action (mindlessly taking the route home rather than to the yoga studio)—creates a habit and a corresponding neurosignature, or groove, in the brain.

These grooves are strengthened with repetition and attention.

Think of driving a car along two grooves: it’s challenging (and bumpy) to get the tires up and over those grooves and onto a new path. Anyone feel stuck in a rut?

In yoga speak, we call these patters Samskaras: patterns in the consciousness. Samskaras are also strengthened with repetition and attention. And, yes, it’s challenging and bumpy to change them.

Ah, but it is possible.

The irony here is the same thing that makes it so hard to change is the same thing that will make a new pattern easier.

We have to start by replacing a pattern with a new pattern (as my friend Havi says, the only thing that will stop a pattern is another pattern). And the we have to strengthen it with repetition and attention, thus creating a groove—this time a chosen one. Eventually (21 days, so they say), the new groove will be stronger than the old one. And then we have a habit.

Sounds so easy, right?

No, not really.

What we need is Tapas (no, not the yummy Spanish finger food). Tapas is one of the foundations of yoga. Tapas translates as heat or fire. It’s that transformational quality that brings forth something new. That heat expresses itself as zeal, discipline, and intentionality. It’s a stick-with-it-ness.

We need Tapas to get us out of bed in the morning, to meet the deadline, to get us onto the yoga mat. We need it to get our tires out of those grooves and onto the frontier.

Are you trying to create a new habit but feeling stuck in your rut? Try these tips for re-routing a groove:

+ Name the pattern you want to start (yoga practice 3 times a week)
+ Consider the importance of this new pattern (journal, sit with, vision board)
+ Identify the current pattern/challenge (I keep forgetting my yoga clothes)
+ Short circuit the current pattern by making a new one (get clothes out the night before)
+ Create reminders for yourself to support the new pattern (sticky note on nightstand)
+ Use Tapas to stick to new pattern (no matter what, get out of bed and get clothes out)

Even with tips and tricks and Tapas, starting and sticking to a new pattern can be hard work. The other qualities of your practice such as compassion, forgiveness, and gratitude will be essential as you forge a new path. Life is cyclical and dynamic and will change just when we think we have it figured out!

If there’s any way we can support you and your grooves, please let us know.

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Posted in lifestyle, philosophy, yoga | No Comments »

Containers

Thursday, August 5th, 2010

From Gabrielle Roth’s book Connections:

We spend much of our lives creating containers—forms, vocations, belief systems, ambitions, and explanations for why we are here—but they are only containers. When those containers are crushed, which they eventually will be, we discover something that endures beyond them—the human heart, the soul, the Mystery, the instinct to embrace our Source unconditionally. And so it is ultimately here, exulting in the bond and inspiration of life itself, that we intuit our own spiritual path and find our destiny.

And so it is with our yoga practice; we can get so caught up in the pose—the container—we sometimes forget about the importance of the experience of—the contents.

As a yoga teacher, it’s a delicate balance between not giving enough information and guidance in a pose and giving so much information there’s no room for one’s own experience.

Culturally we are conditioned toward perfection, which can come across on the yoga mat in a number of ways: We want to do the pose “right;” we are used to being told what and where to feel; always wanting to maximize the experience, to do more.

These are not bad qualities. The certainly have their place in optimizing our time and efforts. And why not live to our fullest in each moment?!

Still, it can be a wonderful experiment to shift attention from the container to the feeling underneath, inside, and around that container. What if the Warrior II is textbook on target (depending on which text book you’re referring to!) but there’s pain, shortness of breath, and dis-ease in the body?

And the ultimate challenge of doing less… less than you usually do, less than you know you can. Then watch the ego, the mind, the heart, the physicality: what is the response inside the container?

Just a little Thursday fodder… a little stirring of the contents!

Please feel free to share thought in the comments. Until next time…

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Posted in health, lifestyle, teaching/teacher, yoga | No Comments »

fuzz

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

Did you know that you grow fuzz at night? On your muscles.

Yup. In between otherwise slippery and sliding surfaces, “fuzz” grows. It creates that sticky, achy feeling you have in the morning.

If the fuzz is not stretched off, you can start to feel fuzzed over, and eventually it will harden and affect your comfort and range of motion. Watch the scientific fuzz talk, just know there are brief clips of cadavers (and their fuzz).

This makes me think about other places that can get stuck, rigid, fuzzy: we can feel “fuzzy headed,” we can grow fuzz between the otherwise smooth places in a relationship, we can feel stuck in a pattern rather than in flowing with possibility.

It can get so fuzzy!

Yoga de-fuzzes you. It makes literal space in your body. It get things sliding and smooth again in your body and life. It helps stretch your mind. It’s that feeling you have after a practice. You know the one. The “ahhhh.”

I hope all this fuzz talk has encouraged you to sit up a little taller, maybe take a stretch or a yawn, keep those sticky areas of your body loose and slippery.

Fuzz-free.

We are excited to offer many fuzz-busting opportunities this fall—amazing classes and events to sustain you in your practice. As always, we’d love to hear how you’re doing and how we can support you. Feel free to leave a comment!

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Posted in health, lifestyle, yoga | 2 Comments »

The Conversation

Sunday, July 11th, 2010

Poet and author David Whyte talks about “entering the conversation,” meaning showing up, participating in this life, being aware of yourself relating to yourself and others, things and emotions.

Maybe this is a literal conversation; maybe it is more about acknowledging the dreadful partnership, the injured knee, and death of a loved one.

It’s about living the moments of your life.

All you have to do—all you can do—is start. Enter the conversation.

***

From Sunday morning class, the poem All the true vows.

And if you can’t make it to class, read the poem and then take this free online class.

All the true vows
are secret vows
the ones we speak out loud
are the ones we break.

There is only one life
you can call your own
and a thousand others
you can call by any name you want.

Hold to the truth you make
every day with your own body,
don’t turn your face away.

Hold to your own truth
at the center of the image
you were born with.

Those who do not understand
their destiny will never understand
the friends they have made
nor the work they have chosen

nor the one life that waits
beyond all the others.

By the lake in the wood
in the shadows
you can
whisper that truth
to the quiet reflection
you see in the water.

Whatever you hear from
the water, remember,

it wants you to carry
the sound of its truth on your lips.

Remember,
in this place
no one can hear you

and out of the silence
you can make a promise
it will kill you to break,

that way you’ll find
what is real and what is not.

I know what I am saying.
Time almost forsook me
and I looked again.

Seeing my reflection
I broke a promise
and spoke
for the first time
after all these years

in my own voice,

before it was too late
to turn my face again.

~David Whyte

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Posted in Asana Sequence, poetry, yoga | No Comments »

This is what we do

Monday, July 5th, 2010

IAY representatives (ok, Tami and I) recently went to a networking meetup. We talked business, traded marketing tips, shared stories, and answered inevitable questions like What kind of yoga do you guys do?

The initial skepticism in the group eventually made way to a genuine interest in the studio. You rest? There’s poetry? Sparkles? Hula hooping… what?

Yes, yes, yes. We described our average classes as far above average.

Props, excellent instruction, permission to be you.

Teachers who ask how you are.

Teachers who ask you to notice how you are.

***

Recently a woman who had been on vacation came back to class and told me about her experience at a studio in another city: the teacher didn’t introduce herself or ask about the student, didn’t remind the students in the class to notice how they felt in the poses, the student felt invisible and not cared for. (There are many different types of yoga and styles of teachers and this teacher may have other intentions and areas of specialty.)

There are many things that make It’s All Yoga unique. Describing our “average” class to a group of people who have certain ideas about what yoga is/isn’t reminded me that we have something pretty special going on.

I’m endlessly grateful to this family of teachers, to this community of friends, and to this practice that keeps me (somewhat) sane.

For fun, I made a list of things I love about going to class.

What’s on your list? What’s special about IAY to you? How else we can meet your needs?

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Where’s the Silence?

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

Thank you for the dedicated time to renew my commitment to take better care of myself both physically and spiritually.

Everything—the nuances of the yoga (even poses we do all the time), the readings, amazing views and scenery, being cared and cooked for, swimming under the stars—brought heart and soul into my practice.

This is feedback from the Summer Solstice retreat last year.

There is nothing like going on retreat.

For the past two years I have attended the Women’s Retreat at Spirit Rock Meditation Center.

Nothing like seven days of silence and meditation to show you what you’ve been hiding behind: the internet, a 100 mile an hour pace, an overload of work and obligation. These distractions get loud and heavy and the real messages of the body and heart drown. Sometimes we feel like we’re drowning.

This is where I am right now.

And sadly, this year I cannot go to the retreat.

So I’ve decided two things:

First, to take this weekend (which is the start of the Women’s Retreat) as a self-guided silent meditation weekend at home.

My husband will be out of town. I can unplug my computer and turn off the phone. That’s the “easy” part.

There also will be no music, no reading, writing, or talking. (The dogs will definitely wonder what’s up!)

I will superimpose the retreat schedule over my day—sitting and walking meditations, meals, work period, yoga, listening to one dharma talk in the evening (the exception to the silent rule), and early to bed/early to rise.

I am nervous about this experiment. Afraid I will not have the discipline to stick with it.

I am also sad to not have the support (albeit silent) of the other women at the retreat. Community makes so much difference.

Which leads to my second decision: to suggest that the Summer Solstice retreat in Calistoga in June be computer- and internet-free.

This might not sound like a big deal, and maybe it isn’t for you. But for many of us, hopping on to check email, or Googling one little thing (which leads to to 14 other things and two hours later…) borders on obsession.

We might have moments of going inside, getting in touch with ourselves but get we get only so far before hopping online brings us back “out” and away from that soft center where truth and contentment and joy live.

A yoga retreat allows us the opportunity to get quiet (even if it’s not silent) in a different way. To build relationships with others without one eye on the voice mail.

It allows us the opportunity to disconnect from our regular patterns and reconnect with what is Big and Real and Essential in our lives.

I wish for all of us what last year’s Solstice retreatant connected with: a dedicated time to renew my commitment to take better care of myself both physically and spiritually.

If you are longing to make that connection, come to the Solstice retreat. You can see the details here, and I’m happy to discuss anything that might make coming more possible for you. Just email me at michelle@itsallyoga.com.

I’ll get back to you after the weekend =)

xo
Michelle

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Posted in health, lifestyle, meditation, yoga | 2 Comments »

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