Credit: Jay Morrison on Flickr, under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

That being said, if you’ve been on Yoganonymous lately (no, I’ve never heard of the site either…this was a facebook find for me) you may have seen a new article with a catchy title, “Tits & Ass in a Mala: Yoga in the Media”. Of course I clicked on it right away, ready to raise my fists and nod in agreement alongside a fellow feminist, dismayed by the mass-media takeover of scantily clad women as the face the American yoga industry. Sadly, I was more than disappointed.

Yes, every other page in Yoga Journal is of a thin, attractive woman in highly flattering, if not revealing yoga clothes. It’s kind of crappy, yes. Can’t they find better ways to make money? I bet putting Jon Stewart in some lululemon would make for a pretty lucrative ad campaign. But no, of course they can’t. We’ve been selling sexualized images of women and labeling it as “good marketing” since print media was invented!

But let us pause for a moment and consider some of the points in Maya Georg’s article and why they undermine actual feminist thought:

1) “Years ago, as a new teacher I remember thinking “I’ll make it as a yoga teacher with my clothes on!” “

• My problem with this: Okay, Maya. Go ahead! I applaud you! However, nearly every single picture on her facebook, and her teaching website,  feature her clad in nothing but a sports bra and skin tight yoga pants doing incredibly challenging asanas that show off her tits and ass. And who cares!? I wear lululemon wunderunders too… I just don’t try and pretend that I hate them while I teach in them. Women should be free to wear whatever they please. Just because a woman doesn’t show up to your class wearing a brown paper bag doesn’t mean she “could not be taken seriously or have anything other than [her] appearance to offer. In my eyes, they lost all credibility, and were merely reduced to their parts.” (another Maya quote)

2) “Wearing next to nothing and pouting in pigeon pose to shill the latest yoga accessory is exploitation.”

• My problem with this: see above. Maya, wearing next to nothing, in hanumanasana, dhanurasana… Just because she wasn’t paid to do it as a part of an advertising campaign makes it kosher? She actually replied to one of the people who left a comment on her blog that because she’s not white and not “pouting” while doing it, nor trying to sell something, that means she is exempt from this discussion. Hmm….

3) “The feminist perspective on this should be one of abhorrence.”

• My problem with this: feminists hating on other feminists. Are you trying to tell me that you’re more “feminist” than the rest of us if you write blog entries hating on women everywhere because of the fact that they are white and wear mala beads while dressed in tight clothes doing yoga? You just hated on a LOT of women in this country. Who CARES? Let them wear mala beads. The fact is that much of what we call yoga in this country is SO far from a tradition or a lineage anyway. And who are you to tell people WHY they should be going to yoga, or what they should be seeking from the practice? Do I wish that people who came to my classes weren’t there for a “sweaty workout”? Yes. Do I wish they were all interested in learning how to sit, how to slow down, how to become aware of the basic subtleties that govern our bodies? Yes. I wish I could convince the world that yoga shouldn’t be just another form of our American fitness obsession. But the thing is, you can’t tell people they can’t do yoga unless they believe in the same system you do. And you can’t say that the people out there practicing asana and meditation and pranayama are worthless if they don’t study ways to awaken their kundalini and fire up their internal shakti and praying to Lakshmi?  That’s like saying you aren’t allowed to enjoy any of the benefits of electricity unless you understand all of Newton’s laws of physics.  You cannot force someone to get the same things from the practice that you’ve gotten. 

4). “Let us celebrate our minds, our capacity for love, and our strength as women! Because our strength does not lie between our legs, it lies within our hearts.”

• My problem with this: In this one sentence, you assume that anyone who practices yoga dressed in the clothing you’ve described in this article finds their strength “between her legs”. Shame on you. 

5). The photograph you used:

• You can imagine how shocked I was to recognize the picture of the woman she uses in her article – it’s a friend of mine that I did my teacher training with in California. Yes, I can recognize it even though it’s been conveniently cropped.  She is an intelligent woman, and a fantastic yoga instructor, and in no way does she attempt to sell her sexuality by posing in a tank top and jeans. 
• **Update: Since publishing this article, and contacting my friend, Denise, whose photo was used on the original article  by Maya Georg, the Yoganonymous site administrator has since taken her photo down and replaced it with a new one.**

I don’t normally write articles like this, but this one just rubbed me the wrong way. This is why there are people out there, WOMEN included who are scared to identify themselves as feminists! Because of the hateful, condescending, holier than thou people out there who market their ideas as “feminist”. Feminism means respecting ALL women, and believing that women deserve equal treatment in society. It doesn’t mean bashing some while glorifying others.

Join me in a fun, afternoon workshop at TRU Yoga on Saturday, March 9th, 2-4pm!

I must admit that I was in disbelief when I first read this, as I’m sure many of you were as well. There is a growing body of research that supports yoga as a positive addition to the school classroom, helping children to concentrate, relax, engage with peers, reduce aggression, and even improve test scores. (One of many studies: Effect of yoga on attention and concentration in children) Yoga promotes healthy physical activity in a population of children that is growing more and more sedentary, even obese, or sick with Type I diabetes and other tragic health concerns. But I don’t need a research study to know that yoga can help provide children with a non-competitive, non-intimidating way to move their bodies in a safe environment.

(Photo credit: Kyla Calvert for NPR)

But to claim that the yoga that these children are practicing in California is promoting Hinduism? I’m sorry, but that is simply untrue. How can a parent say nothing of our schools promoting religion while children salute the flag as “one nation under God” each and every morning, yet label thirty minutes of deep breathing, tree poses, sun salutations and savasana as Hinduism?

Can we really allow the absurd dual position that some American’s have on the separation of church and state, and the fear of anything labeled as “other,”  remove yoga from our schools? Just ask the children how they feel about doing yoga:

At the end of the half-hour class, 8-year-old Jacob Hagen says he feels energized and ready for the rest of the day. “Because you get to stretch out and it’s good to be the first class because it wakes you up,” he says.

I feel very lucky to have taught yoga for children. At the first studio I worked at here in Rochester, I was asked to sub for the kid’s yoga teacher on a few occasions  While I am not specifically certified in kid’s yoga, I consulted some teacher friends of mine who are, and did some research on how to modify my language and sequencing to fit a kid’s imagination and physical ability. The response from the kids in the class was extraordinary. They were laughing, they were moving, they were calm and not aggressive or competitive. And in savasana, they allowed their body to REST. One of the girls told me how much she loved the “baby lion pose”. But instead of actually listening to the children, there are parents in California who claim that practicing a sun salutation is a religious ritual:

They were being taught to thank the sun for their lives and the warmth that it brought, the life that it brought to the earth and they were told to do that right before they did their sun salutation exercises,” she says….Those looked like religious teachings to her, so she opted to keep her son out of the classes.

My reaction to the above quote is this: We should be thanking the sun for our lives! Not because Hindu texts, or any other religious texts say so, but because the sun’s light helps grow all the food that nourishes our bodies, and because without it, we could not survive. It has nothing to do with Hinduism, Catholicism  Judaism, or any other kind of -ism. It’s about humanity and feeling connected with the Earth and all that supports you. If we are too terrified to allow our children to express their gratitude to the sun for thirty minutes every morning, well, I don’t know what can be done reform the education system in this country.

Yoga in our elementary schools is a positive step in the right direction to providing a calm, safe, and nurturing environment where our children can learn and allow their creativity to inspire them to take risks, explore new ideas, and follow their instincts. I hope that in my lifetime I see the introduction of yoga in public schools across the country.

Well, nobody is perfect, and I certainly don’t claim to be…

A few weeks ago I had a conversation with a student of mine after my morning yoga class. She has been suffering from a foot injury for a while now, and experiences various levels of pain both during yoga and in daily life. After class she mentioned that she just started acupuncture, which has given the most relief she’s felt in weeks. But this morning, however, the pain was back. I said to her, “You know, you really might just need to give it a rest. I mean, total rest. Do nothing. Stop going to the gym, even stop coming to asana classes for a while”

I could see how the thought immediately saddened her. She told me that she had taken four months off of training entirely, and that she’s being careful and modifying all her exercises. She told me, “I can’t just do nothing, this is what I love”. I thought I understood what she meant, but still held on to my conviction that she needed to rest the foot and really let it heal. I thought to myself, “it’s a simple solution.”

Over the years my yoga practice has taught me that slowing down is important; that transitions and the spaces in between are equally as valuable, if not more valuable than end-results. It has taught me that pain is our body’s greatest method of communication, and not something to be ignored. It has taught me that pushing past our perceived “edge” yields no results (except broken egos and hamstring injuries). It has taught me that it is okay not to overcome a challenge, but we absolutely must try. It has taught me that silence, is in fact, golden.

And now, my student and her foot injury have taught me how hard it is to “do nothing” – to live day by day not doing the thing we love the most. For her, it’s CrossFit, for me, it’s singing.

Thursday, December 20th, was my last day of the semester. I had my last voice lesson in the morning, followed by my Italian final exam. I woke up with a scratchy throat, but shrugged it off: I really didn’t want to cancel my voice lesson. I showed up to sing, but my teacher could tell that I sounded a little off- “muted,” she said. I didn’t have the strength in my sound that I had even a few days before during our full run-through of the opera. I thought to myself, “I better not be getting sick…”

Well, over the course of that day, I lost my voice completely. I mean 100% gone. When I woke up on Friday, I couldn’t even find the strength to whisper. A few people at school had laryngitis those past few weeks, and I knew that’s what I was getting. I’ve never had laryngitis, and I’ve never lost my voice before. I haven’t even had so much as a cold since last October.

The days went on, and I still couldn’t speak. Finally, on Christmas Eve, I decided to see a doctor to make sure it wasn’t an infection. “It’s just laryngitis,” he said. JUST laryngitis? I’m an opera singer and I can’t sing! Or speak! He put me on a round of steroids and cough syrup with codeine. That should do it.

It’s been 10 days now, and I just got my speaking voice back on Friday. I still can’t sing. Nothing even comes out when I try to hum above middle C (new career as a bass, anybody?) The opera opens in 30 days, and I can’t even hum. I’m trying to be optimistic, really, I am…  But yesterday I finally broke down. I just started crying out of nowhere. Never have I wanted to sing so badly in my entire life.

And then today, after getting off the phone with my boyfriend, I realized, I am my student now. That look in her eyes when I told her to stop coming to yoga, to stop going to CrossFit; that look of disbelief and sadness, now I know. Our passion is what sustains us each and every day. When you find something you love, and you put your whole being into developing that passion, it feels impossible to do anything else.

I thought I understood the value of rest, of doing nothing. I mean, I embrace savasana as the greatest of all yoga poses! But I admit that doing nothing in this moment has been the hardest challenge I’ve faced all semester. Thousands of hours of yoga practice have prepared me for this: to accept my situation without attachment, to let go, to observe, to take this opportunity for self study. But it still is hard.

So what do you do? When all you need to do and are supposed  to do is nothing? You find other ways to do what you love:

In the past few days I have been listening to Joyce DiDonato‘s new albums Diva, Divo and Drama Queens (a Christmas gift from Steve) non-stop. I’ve been basking in her warm, coloratura glory and marveling at her Baroque ornaments.  I’ve spent all morning studying the score of a work I’m programming on my recital, listening to metronome markings, conducting myself, and silently mouthing the words to tricky sections. I’ve been copying the stage directions of the opera into my shiny, new photocopied score. It feels like I haven’t been practicing, but I have.

Practice doesn’t always come from doing…both in Yoga, and in life.

Quick self promotion: This coming Saturday, November 17th, from 2-4 PM I will be teaching a workshop at TRU Yoga called “Yoga for Musicians”. We’ll be covering a wide range of topics including: the effects of different types of sound/music on the breath and on body awareness, common injury prevention, performance anxiety reduction, visualization techniques for practicing and preparing performance, breath work to enhance playing/performing experience. Tell your friends and see you there!

Caroline Yoga for Musicians Fall 2012 Flyer

C: We are approaching the the first event in your series, “The Sound of Music – Nada Yoga” on March 22nd. How would you describe Nada Yoga to the student or musician who is new to this concept?

F: Nada yoga is deep listening to all sounds–the inner sounds of our bodies, breath, heart, etc.; sounds of the environment; mental sounds; sounds of the Universe; and of course what we call music. It is a practice of meditation, being the sound of life itself, yoking to the nature and essence of each sound.

Francois Raoult, Director - Open Sky Yoga Center

C: Can you describe your first experience with Nada Yoga for us? How you discovered the practice and when you really began to make it a part of your life?

F: Listening to great concerts as a teenager–Yehudi Menuhin, Jean Guillou, Heinz Holliger. The sounds of nature. Vibrations of the lower organ pipes in cathedrals. Chanting mantra in Nepal. Playing music at the top of mountains. Recreating wave sounds with a synthesizer. Taping skipping stones on frozen lakes. Listening to “Stimmung” and “Aus den sieben Tagen” by Stockhausen all night. John Cage’s “Musicircus” in Paris. Sonny Rollins in Mumbai. Great Nada Yogis of India, like Pandit Jasraj, where you cry, dissolve, and prana is moved deeply during the singing of ragas. Experiences of synesthesia…sculpting the silence….I have to stop here….

C: What do you hope to develop within the Rochester community by making Nada Yoga a part of what you teach at Open Sky?

F: A deeper interest in appreciating the introverted side of yoga practice. Humming/chanting. Deep listening to all sacred music. Yoga is a state of consciousness. It is not tied up to postures or anything in particular. It is a way of receiving/perceiving–inter-being as Thich Nhat Hanh would say–with the world.

C: How accessible is learning the practices of Nada Yoga to those who wouldn’t call themselves musicians, or “musically inclined”? Is this an awareness that everyone can learn to access?

F: Yes, anybody can have an innocent way of receiving the sounds. Actually, non-musicians may do better, as they are not tempted to label/name/analyze. Erasing all tapes of previous belief systems is a prerequisite, so the less data/vrttis to erase the better. Most yoga students don’t know where the music is. They are delighted to be exposed to exciting stuff beyond Krishna Das, yoga pop with a groove and relaxing New Age junk.

C: Last weekend you began your 2012 Essential Teacher Training at Open Sky. How large a part of the curriculum will Nada yoga play for this year’s students? Do you believe this is something every teacher should be starting to explore?

F: In the teacher training not much, as we learn to See primarily; to read the body in asana as sacred architecture. We look at compensation patterns to minimize pathology and regain our humanness in posture and breath. The Pranayama Teacher Training (Aug. 31 – Sep. 3, 2012) following the essential one will begin to dive into sound, coming up next september for already certified teachers.

C: The first event features a guest speaker, Dr. Ellen Koskoff, Professor of Ethnomusicology at the Eastman School of Music. Do you hope to have a continuing relationship with the Eastman School? What other collaborations would you like to see in the future?

Dr. Ellen Koskoff, PhD

F: Yes, the world of yoga and the world of music are both so ethnocentric. I hope more teachers will come out of academia and share their passion, research, and their views on sound and music. Ellen Koskoff has done great work by hosting that show on the radio–simple, concise, but showing that there are so many “classical” musics, not just “ours”! It is an honor to have her opening the series…

C: You yourself earned a Master’s Degree in Ethnomusicology: how did your studies in music shape the way you approached teaching yoga?

F: Well, my master’s degree took me deep into the Himalayas to record Tibetan rituals in remote monasteries. It just happens those places are not far from where early yogis were meditating, like Mount Kailash. Also, the curiosity and desire to know where everything comes from is part of a spiritual quest…is there a Source (or Sources) from which we are still drinking?! It may also be that practicing music or an art is yoga. So the connection is obvious, personal practice and discovery being number one, not being addicted to taking classes. Teaching gives the signs.

C: Your second lecture, “To Drone or Not To Drone” will explore deep listening from Gregorian Chant all the way to Steve Reich. How do you introduce chant in your regular classes to students who have never done it before, or feel self conscious about making sounds as part of a group?

F: Well, it is a leap of faith. Just chanting open vowels, simple mantras like om, non-denominational humming, etc. Then in deep relaxation we listen to a wide range of compositions. Nothing pushy or extreme. Nothing systematic either… Most students enjoy the group resonance, the sympathetic resonance, the potential overtones, the energy of joined voices without the need to be a singer. Everybody has a voice and a need to come out!

C: Do you see this lecture series evolving to a regular “class” that is offered at Open Sky? Is weekly nada yoga in the future?

F: I hope so. A few times a year. Maybe also live performances with the audience in sitting and lying down yogic meditation….no casual listening! I am bringing David Darling here for a “Music for People” seminar in 2013, so non-musicians can improvise in a group. It’s a little bit like Bobby McFerrin (out of reach) but he already went to the Eastman voice department. That is one direction…. open the sky of yoga to all frequencies!! If life was a movie, could you be acutely aware of the soundtrack? Differences between what we call art or music and life vanish eventually. It’s the same between labor and play, sacred and profane. It’s all good! I hope this series of lectures/concerts will be a good beginning.

**Open Sky Yoga Center is Located at 5 Arnold Park, Rochester, New York 14607 (Behind the Zen Center)**

Standing on Your Head: the Benefits:

Salamba Sirsasana, the headstand, is traditionally known as the king of all asanas. Swami Sivananda called sirsasana “A blessing and a nectar” in his book, Yoga Asanas. The brain is the control center of the human body, supporting the nervous system and all bodily and sensory functions.  Standing on our heads effectively reverses the normal pressure of the blood, which is naturally higher towards our lower extremities below the level of the heart, and naturally lower above the level of the heart. Sirsasana directs the blood that is pumping out of the heart towards the brain, allowing oxygen-rich blood to flow freely through the blood vessels that surround it. The pressure in the feet reduces to nearly zero as the pressure in the head increases. (The pressure at the level of the heart should remain at about 120/80) This is logically extremely beneficial for anyone suffering from swelling in the ankles or legs. In addition to blood circulation, tissue fluids benefit from sirsasana as well. H. David Coulter’s phenomenal book, Anatomy of Hatha Yoga, cites that “tissue fluids will flow more effectively into the veins and lymph channels, and this will make for a healthier exchange of nutrients and wastes between cells and capillaries.” This is an important indication that no matter how clean of a diet you consume, you still need to support the system that absorbs the nutrients in the food you consume.

While the cardiovascular benefits may be the most obvious, there are other physiological benefits which may or may not be discussed in your average yoga class. Standing on your head increases the blood-flow to the pituitary and pineal glands, both important members of the endocrine system. The pituitary gland is responsible for secreting nine different hormones into the body, among them growth hormone, and thyroid-stimulating hormone, both vital to maintaining homeostasis in the body. The pineal gland is of equal importance: it produces melatonin, a hormone that is involved in regulating our sleep patterns and elevating mood. Being inverted challenges the lungs in breathing, ultimately making them stronger and capable of a maintaining higher vital capacity. It also makes it nearly impossible to breathe shallowly: because of the increased pressure, “chest” breathing is difficult, and one finds it almost automatic to engage diaphragmatic breathing with a low-belly release.

Balance increases through a regular practice of sirsasana, as one learns to maintain stillness when the wall no longer becomes involved in the pose. The neck muscles that support the skull are strengthened as are are the muscles in the core of the body and all those that attach to the spine.

Psychologically and emotionally, sirsasana is one of the most powerful and beneficial poses you can do. Iyengar describes under his effects of sirsasana the brain as “the seat of intelligence, knowledge, discrimination, wisdom and power…It is the seat of the Brahman, the soul…the human body cannot prosper without a healthy brain.” Sirsasana improves mental concentration and focus and allows for greater ease when practicing seated in meditation. Practicing headstand has been frequently cited as a pose to counteract the symptoms of depression. Headstand elevates your mood, and there are many, many people who can attest to this, myself included. It is as if someone is lifting a great weight off your chest – that wonderful feeling of being suspended simply increases the spirits! More and more scientific evidence is being published that would support the correlation of a regular sirsasana practice and lower levels of depression.

For more information on a clinical study of the effects of yoga on depression, please see Yoga as a Complementary Treatment of Depression: Effects of Traits and Moods on Treatment Outcome, a study lead by David Shapiro of UCLA’s Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavoir and published in 2007, which involved 17 patients that were being treated for depression and provided them with three series of 20 yoga classes led by senior Iyengar instructors. Half of the group focused on inversions and the other half on back-bending postures. “Significant reductions were shown for depression, anger, anxiety, neurotic symptoms and low frequency heart rate variability in the 17 completers…Moods improved from before to after the yoga classes. Yoga appears to be a promising intervention for depression; it is cost-effective and easy to implement.” This is an absolutely fascinating, and inspiring study and the fact that there are more like it is a huge step in the right direction towards alternative care and treatment in mood disorders.

Contraindications for Practicing Sirsasana:

1.) The first, and most obvious contraindication to practicing headstand is high blood pressure. A normal blood pressure at the level of the head is 100/60 (Coulter). But someone suffering from high blood pressure will already have a level higher than that while standing. Sirsasana increases the pressure in the head to about 150/110, but in those students who have high blood pressure, going upside down can increase it to a dangerously high level. It is advised that the teacher mention this prior to instructing sirsasana if there are new students in the room.

2.) Another obvious reason to abstain from practicing sirsasana is if the student has suffered a recent neck or back injury. If the structures of the cervical spine have gone through a trauma, there can be no advisable reason to invert into sirsasana. Even though the forearms are on the ground, they are primarily used for support, and considerable weight is placed in the head. If the muscles and structures in neck are weakened or compromised due to injury, sirsasana becomes a risk.

3.) Excess weight: this is something that is often not discussed in yoga classes. Unfortunately, it has become somewhat of a taboo for people to express concern for overweight individuals, even if they are our friends and family. It is a yoga teacher’s duty, however, to advise a student that is struggling with being overweight not to practice headstand.  First of all, excessive weight increases the risk for high blood pressure, so that alone would prevent you from doing the pose. It also increases the pressure on the muscles and structures of the neck, increasing risk of injury. There is also more weight on the spine, which can compress the vertebrae and take the integrity out of the pose. A much better recommendation for a student who is overweight but wants to invert would be dolphin pose. Encouraging the student to strengthen the shoulders and arms is a more positive way to discourage sirsasana. Ultimately, the yoga classroom should be a safe environment for all students, and even if a teacher feels uncomfortable, as though they are “singling out” an overweight student when the rest of the class is practicing headstand, it is ultimately more beneficial to that student to get the proper assistance they need as opposed to ignoring the issue.

4.) Fear: for me, this is the BIGGEST contraindication to practicing headstand in those students who are otherwise physically ready for the pose (meaning they do not suffer from the above three conditions). I think fear is not addressed enough in yoga classes, and students that are fearful of inverting may not be willing to speak up in front of the class and let the instructor know. When fear takes over the body, sympathetic nervous system takes over and the “fight-or-flight” response is activated. Heart rate can increase, blood vessels can constrict (bad for a pose that increases blood pressure), and the body can involuntarily shake. All of these are bad news for going up into headstand. Fear therefore becomes a huge risk for injury and should be genuinely discussed in the class. Instructors can offer techniques to minimize a student’s anxiety about inversions, such as seated meditation or pranayama before inverting, sustaining the preparatory posture without actually lifting the legs, asking them to visualize the pose instead. This can help the student get used to the feeling of being inverted, while still being grounded.

5.) Menstruation: I will not discuss at length about this, mainly because there is a wealth of conflicting information out there and very little scientific evidence that either confidently supports, or firmly cautions practicing headstand while menstruating. I myself feel comfortable doing it, whereas many women do not. I think this is ultimately a personal decision, and many traditional views on why not to practice are not rooted in scientific reasoning.

6) Pregnancy: My opinion is to err on the side of caution and don’t practice sirsasana. Many sources will tell you to consult your doctor, but not all doctors are experienced yogis. I have known a women, who had a very strong practice prior to her pregnancy, who continued to practice headstand well into her second trimester without complications. I have also have known pregnant women in one of my classes who said inverting was uncomfortable even in her first trimester. Again, I say go with caution: there are plenty of other phenomenal asanas out there that are perfectly safe to practice during pregnancy.

Thank you for reading, and stay tuned for Part II of this article: Sarvangasana, Shoulder Stand (to be published later this week!)

~Peace~

photo credit: http://yogamonth.org/events/

September is National Yoga Month! 1,600 studios across the United States have joined together to participate in this amazing observance, offering a week of free classes to new students.  National Yoga Month was created by the Department of Health and Human Services in order to raise awareness about the physical and mental benefits of a regular yoga practice. From their website:

This grassroots awareness campaign inspires both youths and adults to take responsibility for their well-being by focusing on prevention and healthy lifestyle choices. (1)

The key word in this statement is prevention: our current health system is predominantly focused on post-symptomatic treatment and the curing of illness after it has already struck, as opposed to advocating preventive measures to avoid illness in the first place. But this is slowly changing. A 2003 report released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, entitled “Prevention Makes Common Cents” highlighted the out-of-control health care costs in the United States and the dangers of living an unhealthy lifestyle. Heart disease alone cost our country over $300 billion that year.  Our health care system also emphasizes the role of genetics in determining the fate of our health so much so that some people believe there is little they can do if a disease is already present in their family. I have friends that have said to me in response to a comment that they should wear sunscreen outdoors: “Everyone in my family has skin cancer anyway, there’s no point, I’m going to get it.”  Hmm…

Obviously there are many genetic disorders and diseases that exist, and I am not advocating that yoga can prevent or cure such disorders, however it has been proven that heart disease and cancers, though they may carry genetic pre-disposition, are almost entirely preventable. (For further information, read T. Collin Cambell’s fascinating book The China Study, which highlights over 25 years of cancer research and supports findings that our diet is directly linked to the development of many types of cancers.)

So, why the case for yoga as one of the best “preventive” activities you can do in your life?

We know that yoga tones the muscular system, strengthens the skeletal system, increases bone density (hugely important for women), stimulates the lymphatic system and the endocrine system, oxygenates the blood and improves circulation, aids in regulating the digestive system, balances the nervous system, lowers blood pressure, eliminates toxins through sweating, increases mobility in the spine, increases flexibility, signals the brain to release serotonin (and has been proven to aid in treating depression), increases awareness and mental concentration, balances the body’s hormone production, the list goes on and and on and on and on…

I think one could make a very good case that people who regularly practice yoga tend to lead an overall healthier lifestyle than those who don’t. It’s a ripple effect: you start to notice so many positive results associated with the practice that it begins to trickle down into all other aspects of your life. I don’t have numbers or statistics to prove this, but I don’t need to: I see the benefits on the faces of my students every time I teach a class. I can hear it in the way their breath changes the second they cross their legs and close their eyes. I can feel it in my own body every time I unroll my own mat, and forget about what I have to do that day and find true quiet. And I can see it in all the phenomenal grassroots yoga organizations that exist out there, The Africa Yoga Project, Off the Mat and Into the World, The Prison Yoga Project, Yoga to the People, again, the list goes on and on…

On September 30th at 7pm, National Yoga Month is sponsoring a Global Community Yoga Practice. Find a participating studio, start your own event, or just get on your mat in your own home and join in on the practice!

What else are you doing to celebrate National Yoga Month? I’d love to hear about it!

~Namaste~

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve updated the website, but there has been plenty of fantastic yoga happenings since last I wrote. Steve and I had a wonderful 2 weeks in Mountains of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, and found many opportunities to practice in the outdoors.

Practicing outside lends to a whole new perspective on not only on the asanas themselves, but on the connectedness of all things to the Earth. Nature itself is a living, breathing organism, and when you harness your own connection to the breath and maintain it while practicing outside, it can be very powerful. The poses feel very different while gazing up at an infinite sky, or over a cliff to the ocean below. It adds a whole new element of having to really integrate yourself to the surroundings around you, and and to notice how your practice reacts to the subtleties of the wind, the uneven ground, and the sounds all around you. It’s a beautiful way to practice, and I must say I’m not looking forward to the long, Rochester winters that will keep me indoors for months!

The Finger Lakes Yoga Festival also happened a few weeks ago, which ended up being a lot of fun. I learned some new Acro Yoga practices and am excited to start incorporating them into my own work. I’ve had mixed experiences in partner yoga, but I’m finding that when you move together with intention, and you synchronize your breathing, the practice can open up some new doors. Flying upside down in Folded Leaf was definitely one of my favorite parts of the whole weekend. It is always great to meet new yogis and practice together outside as well! Hopefully next year there will be even more people and larger platforms for the classes (which is already in the works).

I just completed my first week of classes at the Eastman School of Music here in Rochester. I’m beginning a two-year long Masters degree in Vocal Performance, studying with Katherine Ciesinski. One of my big projects for the next two years here is to develop a yoga program, specifically designed for classical singers, that integrates pranayama practices with vocalises and uses both breathing and meditation techniques in role preparation and calming performance anxieties. Stay tuned for further developments, and if you know anybody in the Rochester area that is interested in practicing, let me know!

Namaste :)

]]> http://gopoweryoga.com/2011/09/04/return-from-the-great-outdoors-back-to-the-books/feed/ 0 gopoweryoga Warrior One Sunset Wide-legged twist at Acadia National Park Pigeon on a cliff tittihbasana on the rocks Northwoods Natarajasana Tree among trees http://gopoweryoga.com/2011/08/18/yoga-instructor-spotlight-phillip-askew/ http://gopoweryoga.com/2011/08/18/yoga-instructor-spotlight-phillip-askew/#comments Thu, 18 Aug 2011 13:25:21 +0000 gopoweryoga http://gopoweryoga.com/?p=148 Continue reading →]]> I feel so blessed to publish this amazing interview with NYC-based yoga instructor, Phillip Askew. My experience with Phillip is recent, but it has already been profound. I first discovered him last year when a fellow yoga teacher from LA shared his youtube videos with me on facebook. When I first saw his “Variations on Surya Namaskara”, I was blown away. I had never seen something so aesthetically beautiful before: he was taking movement to a whole new level, to a form that went far beyond  yoga and dance to a true marriage of bodies in a subtle and flowing display of breath and union. I knew I had to meet this teacher, but didn’t know how.

When I found out that he taught weekly classes at Pure Yoga in New York City, I took a chance and contacted Phillip through facebook, hoping that he might reply and be willing to meet me. Just a few weeks later I was in his Monday night vinyasa class (which was amazing) on the upper west side. In speaking with Phillip after the class about his recent travels to Europe, I knew that I wanted to interview him for this website. He had just come back from teaching at Rasa Yoga Rive Gauche, the studio that I went to while I was living in Paris for a year and a half, so I felt an immediate connection. I would like to extend a huge thank you to Phillip for providing such insightful and inspiring responses to these questions, and I think that any yogi can gain some important lessons from what Phillip’s teachings. Namaste!

Caroline: How did you first get introduced to yoga?

Phillip:  I was 18 years old & working at a children’s theater when I was first introduced to yoga. My mother & I started taking classes there with a kid who had only taken a few yoga classes himself, & was by no means a certified teacher. He would bring books, & we’d all look through the books and try poses. The most important thing I learned from him was how to breath in the Ujjayi style. The poses felt so good to me, & were so deeply therapeutic, that I wanted to practice them every day. So, I bought my own books and started a home practice. 2 years later, I was practicing 2+ hours a day, 6 days a week, when I came upon a book filled with radical wisdom that rang true for me, & postures that I could hardly even attempt on my own, written by teachers working out of downtown Manhattan- where I was living at the time. So, I got over my shyness, came out to my first Vinyasa class, & I’ve been hooked ever since.

C: You’ve made some very beautiful films of your practice: where do you find your inspiration and what is the process that you go through initially to create such films?

P:  I am very much inspired by Dharma Mittra, who 40 years ago created a poster of 1008 asanas that today you can find in almost any yoga studio around the world. Then, there is, of course, the great teacher of the last century, BKS Iyengar, who became famous initially for his amazing public demonstrations. These teachers, by sharing their practices with the world, have inspired so, so many.

Artistically, I’m inspired by artists who play outside the box, revisionists who mix & match conventions from overlapping genres, & play against expectation. To me, that’s what Vinyasa is all about.

My creative process? I shoot first & edit later. I know that sounds simple- but most people trip themselves up editing before it’s time to. I start with a vision, but I don’t force anything. I shoot what happens. I don’t direct my subjects, I direct the shoot around them.

C: How did you get involved in partner yoga work? How is a partner yoga practice different for you than your own individual practice, and what kind of advice would you have for somebody who is interested in learning?

P:  I was fresh out of teacher training when I met Simon Park by way of Twee Merrigan. Simon, at that time, had been teaching for over 10 years, sharing his practice, & serving the world open through it. Simon taught me how to give & receive yoga through partnering, & I quickly incorporated his methodology into my own work. I came to consider my private lessons opportunities for me to practice partnering with others. When you come to it from that place, instead of from a place of, “This is such a drag, I’d rather be doing my own practice,”- when you are, instead, doing your own practice, just on other people- it changes everything. & it’s very attractive. So, that affords you a lot of opportunity, to work, to practice, & to serve.

The most important aspect of partnering is connecting. If you’re interested in learning, that’s gotta be your focus. The connection is everything.

C: What do you find to be the most uplifting and inspiring aspects of being a yoga instructor?

P:  Doing good in the world. You can’t beat that. There are a lot of different kinds of jobs out there, but not everyone can say that they’re doing good in the world.

Then there’s the community. The love that’s out there for yoga teachers is endlessly sustaining, inspiring & uplifting.

C: How has your own yoga practice shaped your life?

P: Practice brings me back to my Self. Back to what is. Back to the simple & beautiful moment, exactly how it appears NOW. I am healthier, happier, clearer & more powerful as a result; in mind, body & spirit. & therefore, I am more effective in realization.

C: Where is the most interesting place you’ve ever practiced?

P: I used to live on the top floor of an 18-story building on Lexington Ave in Manhattan. My roommates & I had a rooftop patio with a lip at the edge that was wide enough to sit on, ease-fully and comfortably- physically, but psychologically challenging. I remember sitting on that lip with one of my teachers, Jason Nemer, when he says to me, “That’s it. I have to do it.” & he presses up from seated into a full-tilt handstand. I was horrified!! Every piece of me wanted to lunge after him, to stop him. But, of course I knew that that may cause him to fall, or we both. & so, just sitting there, still, became a meaningful exercise in self-restraint, patience & allowing. He, of course, didn’t waiver or fluctuate one iota, eventually floating his way back down to sit, grinning.

C: Who has been your most influential teacher?

P: This, for me, is an unanswerable question. In any given moment my teacher appears to me in myriad forms. For each phase of my life, one teacher rings the dominant chord; but amidst over- & under-tones of teachers past & future. At the moment, Thomas Jones is blowing my mind with The Paradox Process.

C: What is your favorite asana and why?

P: Sukhasana. Because it’s easy. With your spine erect, your mind is alert. But, your body is comfortable & quiet. So, you can sit almost indefinitely. & meditate on the edge of infinity.

C: How do you balance having a personal practice alongside being a teacher who is in high demand and travels internationally to give workshops and classes?

P: This was more difficult for me in my earlier years as a teacher, when I was trying to follow “the rules”- like never practicing with your students. These days, I’m creating opportunity for practice in everything I do. Practice is so integrated into my waking life, I’m always practicing. & so, I sometimes practice asana vinyasa in my own classes, public & private. & my students love when I do! I practice every time I shoot video- really practice. The practice takes on more importance than the shoot. If I wake up in the night, I get up & meditate into the morning. I cook, I make love, I serve others.

C: What does the word yoga mean to you?

P: Yoga is total harmonic union. It is a dissolution of the false boundaries between your self & your world. Almost everyone experiences it at least once in their life, whether they practice yoga or not. Many people experience it on a regular basis. Yoga as a tradition is a system of techniques designed to induce this resonant state.