My Yoga Journey and The Lost is Found...With Tarot Cards

So how does someone go from being a kindergarten teacher in Manitoba to an aspiring yogini (new word I learned today. It means female yogi.) in Lagonissi, Greece? My classmates and I have all shared our stories a number of times with each other and our teachers (and I think we could star in our own version of Eat, Pray, Love), but I haven't really shared it on my blog. I've received a lot of supportive messages in the last few weeks (and they are greatly appreciated) as well as some questions about what I'm doing and how I ended up here. So I thought I'd dedicate a blog post to my personal journey with yoga.

Yoga has been a part of my life on and off for the last 15 years. I dabbled in yoga in my twenties, doing the odd yoga video at home. Six years ago, I attended a few hot yoga classes at Zen Zone in Brandon, but then my fitness direction turned to strength training and cardio. For the past five years, I've worked out with a great personal trainer located nearby, my best friend Leah, and attended boot camps with the Kenton and Lenore girls regularly. I enjoyed my fitness routine and never missed a boot camp or workout without a good reason.

That all began to change this past winter. I started teaching at Brandon University, in addition to teaching full-time, and I was exhausted and overwhelmed all the time. As much as I loved teaching big kids and little kids, I was unsettled and discontent but couldn't put my finger on what was wrong. I no longer felt like pushing my body at the gym, and when Leah suggested private yoga sessions with our local yogini Kaycelyn Rosales-Knight, I immediately agreed. We started Sunday sessions with Kayce at the end of January, and from my first session I was hooked. I loved the physical challenge of the poses, the stretching, and the breathing. And I loved how our sessions focused on wellness and setting intentions and listening to our bodies. Visit Kayce's Facebook page to learn more about her classes if you're in the Westman area!

I loved our weekly yoga sessions so much that I wanted to start practicing daily. One of my friends had mentioned that she had done a 30 day yoga challenge. I looked it up online and found a yoga challenge with a yogi named Adriene. Although her incessant chatter really annoyed me, I looked forward to my mornings on my mat with her and she helped me move forward with my practice. Check out Yoga with Adriene here! There's lots of great free resources. At this time, I began attending hot yoga and vinyasa flow classes at Zen Zone in Brandon. My favourite Saturday morning routine was a yoga class followed by Starbucks and shopping, often with Leah. I began to challenge myself with poses like crow and wheel and noticed myself getting stronger. When I finished my 30 day challenge with Adriene, I started a new one with Erin Motz. Erin is my favourite online yoga instructor and she's known as the "bad yogi" because she eats red meat, drinks red wine, and takes a very modern, no-nonsense approach to yoga. She has a free challenge here.

Yoga began to impact my life in positive ways. Waking up in the morning became so much easier when I could look forward to a cup of my favourite tea and a half hour on my mat. My favourite thing to do on the weekend was yoga on the deck, weather permitting. I became one of those people who posted pictures of herself doing yoga poses. I traveled with my yoga mat, practicing in my hotel room or taking in a class at a nearby studio. When I was upset or stressed out, I always felt better after yoga. I began to use it as a positive tool to cope. And when I had a physical problem, I'd Google, "Yoga poses for ______" and use those poses to help what was troubling me. When I first began making plans to travel, it was Kayce who suggested to me that I consider doing my yoga teacher training while I traveled. The more I thought about it, the more it appealed to me. I would get to study yoga, I'd acquire a new skill, I'd meet new people, and travel the world. I looked at a number of different yoga teacher trainings, but ended up selecting a transformational Hatha yoga course with Kayce's advice. The location was beautiful, the teachers highly qualified, and Hatha yoga is a very accessible yoga practice for people of all skill levels. After nearly three weeks here, I am very confident that I made the right decision! Not only have I improved my physical practice, but I feel that I've been given so many new tools (mantra, meditation, and breathing) to be a healthier person physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.

I'm not sure where yoga will take me next. I'd definitely like to do another teacher training, maybe studying vinyasa as it is a style that I absolutely love and feel very at home with. I'm excited to share my practice with others when I return home to Manitoba, but I'm not exactly sure how that will look yet. What I do know is that yoga is a permanent part of my life and has had a hugely positive impact on me already. If you'd like to make yoga a part of your life, consider trying some of the resources I mentioned above. It doesn't get a lot easier than starting with an online video in the privacy of your living room. If you have access to a yoga studio with classes, don't be intimidated. I've found the yoga community to be warm, supportive, and welcoming. And anyone who understands what yoga really is will never judge you on your ability to do a headstand or how low you can sink in chair pose! Or consider starting with meditation--I've listed a couple of good apps in previous posts that make it easy to begin. Whatever you choose, you'll feel so much better after only a session or two, I promise! And just remember, "Anybody can breathe Therefore anybody can practice yoga."

Highlights from Today
I took off my ring while I was doing dishes today and absentmindedly set it somewhere. After waking up from my afternoon nap, I noticed that I wasn't wearing my ring. I began to look for it and couldn't find it anywhere. I was becoming really worried when the only man in our group (he's from France) told me not to worry, that he would get out his tarot cards and they would tell him where it was. (See previous post, he's a tarot card reader to the stars and has a program on Asian TV, Really.) Well he produced his tarot cards, asked them a question, and located my ring in under 30 seconds. I was super impressed and grateful!

And my friend J taught her first class! Lovely, calm, and relaxing, it was a perfect ending to the day!

And in other breaking news, we had lasagna for lunch with spinach, pesto, and ricotta cheese. Absolutely delicious! Thanks Chef Leonardo :) 



So Close I Can Almost Taste It: Food Meditation and the End is in Sight

Today turned out to be a really great day! To become certified yoga teachers, all of us are required to plan and teach a 90 minute yoga class that includes all the components of an integral yoga practice (physical poses, breathing, mantra, and meditation). Well today was my big day! I did a lot of planning, preparation, and research for my class, as I decided that I wanted to do a gratitude-themed class. So I found a gratitude meditation from Deepak Chopra, printed out different quotations for everyone's yoga mats to encourage them to reflect on gratitude, made a special playlist of music, and a sign for the entrance to the studio. I wanted everyone to recognize the blessings in their life, then dedicate their yoga practice to someone in their lives for whom they were grateful.

Michelle said we could have one piece of paper to guide us during our class. I found the biggest piece of paper in the house and double-sided that sucker!

The studio all set up for my first class!

Nervously excited, ready to begin teaching!

 

I was really happy with how my class turned out, and I couldn't have had a more supportive teacher or group of people to teach. But I came to the conclusion that teaching kindergarten all day is easier than a 90 minute yoga class! Explaining poses and remembering the important cues while getting into them is hard work!

 

I kind of coasted for the rest of the day! Michelle gave us a study guide for our test on Friday which we will need to pass to certify and graduate later that day. Marita was with us from 3-7 pm, and we did some in-depth asana study then 90 minutes in the studio. The most interesting part of our time with Marita was learning how to do hands on adjustments for some of the poses. I volunteered to be Marita's model as I felt that I could really learn something as she adjusted my alignment. Her adjustments were fantastic and I felt so much more relaxed after. They were a bit scary when she stood on my legs during butterfly, but it didn't hurt and it was "quite fun" as only Marita would say. I'm really looking forward to learning how to do more hands on adjustments tomorrow and Thursday. Another Marita highlight of the day was when we were having some confusion over what body parts matched each prana (energy areas in the body encompassing one or more chakras).

 

Me: Where do the arms go Marita? Are they part of the udana prana or the maha prana?

Marita: You don't know where the arms go? Okay, just imagine the maha prana is like a boob tube. You know, like one of those tube tops you wear over your boobs. Everything under it is maha prana. Everything above it is udana prana and that's where the arms go.

 

It was the perfect analogy and now all of us want tube tops that say, "Check out my maha"! You might need to be a yogi to find that even remotely funny, but we thought it was hilarious!



L doing a hands on adjustment on A during Baddha Konasana (butterfly pose)

 

And like the teacher I am, I decided that I was making study games for everyone to prepare for our test. No one is failing on my watch! Fortunately my fellow yoga students are very tolerant of me!

The "I have, who has" game is always a hit in kindergarten!

I made the Aussie posse try it out after and they loved it!

 

And now it's time for yoga tip of the day....FOOD MEDITATION

Food meditation is the perfect strategy if you'd like to eat less and enjoy your food more. It encourages appreciation and mindfulness of everything you are putting in your mouth. I don't suggest doing this at every meal, but going through the steps once in awhile will make you more aware of what and how much you are eating. And we discovered that we ate dramatically less while meditating on our food.

 

Here are the steps! You can do this with an entire meal, a dessert, a square of chocolate, a glass of wine, or anything you want to appreciate and savour.

 

1) Use your sense of touch to feel the food (if applicable and not too messy)

2) Look at the food with your eyes. Appreciate the colours!

3) Smell the food with your nose

4) As you look at the food, what feelings arise? For example, do you feel hungry, nauseous, thankful, annoyed? etc.

5) Breathe deeply. Do these feelings intensify, lessen, or ebb and flow?

6) Consider all the work that it took to get this food to you. Think about the farmer who grew the food, the workers who harvested it, the truck drivers who transported it, etc.

7) Consider the elements required to grow this food: air, water, fire (heat and sun), earth

8) Put a small bite of the food in your mouth. Explore the texture, how it feels in your mouth, and the taste. What happens to your body as you put the food in your mouth?

9) Try closing your eyes and blocking out distractions as you fully immerse yourself in the experience.

10) Chew your food and be aware of what you are doing. Chew thoroughly--20-30 times per bite before swallowing. Does the flavour and the texture of the food change as you chew it?

11) When you swallow, how far down can you feel the food in your esophagus?

12) Repeat steps 8-11 throughout your meal. If you are doing this with a group of people, there should be no talking so that your focus is completely on the food.



 

 

Rained Out...and Apps to Help You Meditate

For the first time ever since I arrived in Greece nearly a month ago, rain was in the forecast! L and I really wanted a Monday morning latte though, so we made our way down to Daily Coffee (Lagonissi's answer to Starbucks). The skies were dark and cloudy and I had a "brolly" (umbrella, I'm talking like my yoga girls now), but we stayed dry for the entire trip. Not so for the yoga studio today though....

Look what I found in the kitchen! I think someone accidentally bought us cereal with....chocolate in it! So excited.

 

It is a big week in yogaland. To graduate as registered yoga teachers (certified by Yoga Alliance International, a global governing body for yoga), we have to teach a 90 minute class all by ourselves and write a test. Each of us has to take a turn this week, and A went first this morning. It thundered and lightning flashed, and midway through her class, the heavens opened up. The rain created some nice atmosphere until the roof and windows started to leak in the yoga studio. Soon water was pooling on the floor and our upturned faces were being dripped on. A managed to finish her class though, and we raced upstairs in the driving rain to my apartment for theory. 

The rain abated this afternoon and it looked promising for our afternoon class. J began teaching her class, but after the first hour or so, it was raining so heavily that we were in danger of being flooded out of the studio. Michelle suggested that we cut to savasana (yay for savasana) and move our mats into L and A's apartment just off the yoga studio. We quickly stacked up the soggy props and got squished into the little apartment and then the power went off! Candles were soon lit, and J led us in a beautifully relaxing savasana, even though she had to read her meditation notes from the light of A's cell phone. Yogis are flexible in more ways than one!

 

A grey sea and cloudy skies today

Yoga philosophy with Leonardo, Michelle's husband

After our relaxing candlelight savasana, we went upstairs to my apartment for supper and discovered the sun room was flooded. J and L sopped up water with tea towels!

And L swept out the water with a broom. She's resourceful like that.

Cream of Broccoli soup and fresh whole wheat bread was the perfect rainy day meal

Yoga Tip of the Day: Connecting to Help You Disconnect

It seems kind of ironic to use technology to help you meditate, doesn't it? I was determined to go it alone, and this resulted in zero progress in my meditation (or very little anyway). So I decided to tackle it like I do most things in my life--with a little technology infusion. First of all, why does meditation matter so much? Read this article from the Mayo Clinic to learn more.

So I've found two great apps for my iPad that I'm really impressed with so far. One is a free app with in-app purchases (you get a few tracks for free with the option to buy more meditation tracks) and one costs $5.49 in the Canadian iTunes store. Have a look at both.

Omvana: Watch this video to learn more about this great app! Omvana provides some terrific guided meditation--probably with more support than Buddhify has, but in the end the in-app purchases will cost you more than buying Buddhify.

Buddhify: I love this app. It's a paid app, but worth every cent in my opinion. It has a beautiful interface, and many meditations for a variety of activities, ranging from 5 minutes to half an hour. It also give you the option to meditate unsupported with a timer, and tracks your meditation statistics (motivating for some of us).

And it's a short blog post tonight. I'm teaching my 90 minute class tomorrow as Michelle evaluates each of us. I thought that I was done with teacher evaluations but I guess not! Off to do some more prep work--wish me luck tomorrow morning! 

 

Sunday Funday!

It's always hard getting back into the swing of things after a day off on Saturday, but this Sunday was a pretty fun day! I had a great sleep in and didn't even set my alarm as we don't begin until 10 am on Sundays. Leo chauffeured us to Michelle's yoga studio in Lagonissi for a three hour session with Becca.

Jo and I were excited to wear some of our new flowy pants!

 

We started off with tea in the serenity corner and Becca led a session on nutrition. Everyone shared how they were feeling, how they were impacted by detox and the vegetarian/vegan diet at yoga teacher training, and food/exercise habits back home. Becca is a health coach and yoga teacher and lent an interesting perspective to nutrition. She is studying nutrition at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (online).

 

Points to consider:

-there are two types of food... primary and secondary food. Primary food includes the things that feed our souls and hunger for life, such as relationships, career, and spiritual practice. Secondary food is the actual food on our plate. Both types of food nourish us--we are fed by more than actual foods.

-food has prana, or a unique energy, and special properties depending on how it was raised, harvested, and transported, before it ended up on your plate. An example is an organic, garden-grown tomato picked when it was perfectly ripe versus a tomato that was picked when it was green, forced to ripen, and transported thousands of miles to a grocery store. Which tomato is more nourishing?

-Becca also assured us that cravings aren't bad. Cravings tell us what our bodies need; however we need to correctly identify what it is we are actually craving and how to meet our cravings in a healthful way. For example, craving ice cream may actually be a craving for a human connection with someone.

-there are different food issues, and recommended courses of action, associated with each of our seven chakras. For example, with our heart chakra, we often associate food with love and connection, and food is an important aspect of our relationships with the people around us. How to deal with cravings that come from the heart chakra? Meditate and find ways to meet these needs without using food. Heart opening yoga poses are helpful too.

-we often use foods to reward ourselves and make ourselves feel better--I often think of this picture when I want to reward myself with food!

-Becca also recommended "crowding out" our bad habits with the addition of positive habits. Fill your life with good habits so that there is no longer room for the bad habits. For example, if you eat dessert every night, start having a cup of your favourite tea to "crowd out" the need to eat something sweet.

-we also had some great discussion about different kinds of diets and how they might work for some people and not for others. Becca said that everyone's body is different and one diet does not work for everyone. Our blood type and ancestry plays a role too--what did your ancestors eat?

 

We concluded our morning with Becca with an hour of blissful restorative yoga. Thanks for a fantastic morning--I learned a lot :)

 

After lunch and a break, we had theory with Michelle. Today's session focused on the sixth chakra, ajna, more commonly known as the third eye. It's located deep in the brain and is linked to the pineal gland. It was interesting to learn that babies are born with a larger pineal gland, but by the time they are 8-10 years of age this gland has shrunk in size and basically atrophied. Research has shown that people who meditate a lot have larger pineal glands and a higher level of consciousness.

 

A person with an awakened or balanced ajna chakra has strong will power, keen intuition, and permanent happiness and satisfaction with life (Michelle compared it to a 24-hour orgasm--that woke us up and made everyone pay attention). The third eye is linked to telepathy and the ability to see the past and future, and a person with an awakened sixth chakra can manifest what they think about. This last part reminded me of witchcraft and wizardry out of Harry Potter. Michelle also shared that people with a well-developed third eye can "live on light" or prana energy, no longer needing to eat or sleep because their powerful pranic energy sustains them. Michelle's yoga teacher from India, Swami Vidyanand, only sleeps two hours a night as he requires very little rest. Michelle herself only requires six hours of sleep to be fully rested.

 

And then stuff got really crazy in yoga land. Jala neti is the yogic practice of cleansing the nasal and sinus cavities with salt water. Using a little teapot (pictured below) with a saltwater solution, you pour salt water through one nostril and let it flow out the other. I was thrilled! Finally something I was good at! I've used a neti pot for years on and off to treat colds and sinus infections! Michelle demonstrated the technique, and then some of us tried it. A agreed to be the jala neti model for the blog!

Here she goes!

A demonstrated fabulous nose irrigating technique and felt refreshed after!

 

So what's the yoga tip of the day? Using a Neti pot of course! They are available in most pharmacies (such as Shoppers Drug Mart in Canada) and come with packages of salt to which you add distilled lukewarm (or previously boiled) water. Bending over a basin or sink, you pour half the pot through one nostril and let it run through and out the other one. After you've irrigated one nostril, you blow your nose and do ten little puffs of air (clenching your abs each time, it's called breath of fire) through each nostril individually and then through both nostrils. Then repeat on the other nostril.

 

Why use a neti pot?

-it thins out and flushes mucus from the nose

-helpful in treating sinus infections, allergy symptoms, and colds

-it leaves you feeling refreshed and breathing easier

-yogis believe that regular use of a neti pot helps awaken the third eye

 

 

A Vow of Silence and Our Adventures in Athens

It's never dull around here--especially when it's our favourite day of the week! Saturday! Our day off. It started with this: A decided to do twelve hours of silent meditation. No talking, other than the occasional handwritten note and using this sign. And she did it! Way to go A :) As much as I admire A for her vow of silence, I have no plans to attempt this ever for an extended period of time. I like talking way too much!

A with her sign in English and Greek. Twelve hours of silence--you go girl!

15 minutes of silence left, but she can still bust a move with our resident skeleton!

 

Six of us yoga girls headed into Athens at 9 am this morning by train. Five of the girls got off at the Acropolis stop, and I continued on to Syntagma Square all by myself. Leah and I had already toured the Acropolis in the evening when I first arrived in Greece, and I really didn't think anything could top the gorgeous sunset views we experienced. I was pretty excited to spend my day wandering around the shopping district on Ermou Street. I'm doing a little bit of solo travel after yoga teacher training, and I thought making my way around Athens by myself was a good start. I'm proud to say that I didn't get lost once!

 

J and I riding the train to Athens

The high point of my day! A venti pumpkin spice latte :) It tasted like home.

I spent most of my time in the shopping district on Ermou Street. There is a great mix of European chains and some interesting little individual stores. There are beautiful buildings everywhere, such as this little church right in the middle of the pedestrianized street. My big find of the day was "flowy" yoga pants like our teacher Michelle and my friend J wear. I bought a black pair and a taupe pair in different styles (very inexpensive too) and L liked them so much we went back to get her a pair later! And to top it off, J found a great little store selling these pants and bought three pairs, offering one pair to anyone who was interested. I tried them on and loved them so now I have three pairs. I love J's style and I feel like the real deal in these pants! Thanks J :)

When I told my sister about my new pants, her first question was, "As in MC Hammer pants, Devon?" And after she saw this picture, I got told that I looked like Aladdin! Probably true!

I also spent an hour in the Athens Flea Market area. Lots of interesting little shops and junky touristy places too, with a fun and energetic vibe!

I met everyone at our favourite vegetarian/vegan restaurant, Avocado, and had some really yummy margherita pizza for lunch. The food is so amazing that you don't even miss meat, and they also have organic red wine. But no red wine for me :(

Delicious food at Avocado

 

And that's all she wrote for Saturday! I can't believe that we only have one more week of yoga teacher training, and then we'll be REAL yoga teachers! Our last week begins tomorrow, and Sunday is a more relaxed day around here too. I'm looking forward to restorative yoga and a nutrition class with our other teacher Becca. She is an American in Athens and a real breath of fresh air! Check out her Facebook page for her wellness business here.

Yoga Tip of the Day: Nadi Shodhana Pranayama (Alternate Nostril Breathing)

Source: Transformational Hatha Yoga Teacher Training Manual
Nadi shodhana means "alternate nostril breathing". This type of breathing benefits many stress-related illnesses, such as headaches, asthma, and heart disease. It calms the mind the mind and body and balances the nervous system. Alternate nostril breathing also balances both the nostrils, which are inversely associated with the right and left brain hemispheres. This leads to a more balanced personality and balanced functioning of both sides of the brain. As this practice calms and relieves stress, it helps with insomnia if done before bed. Nadi shodhana also prepares the mind and body for meditation.

Technique:
1) Sit up straight and comfortably with legs crossed and rest the left hand on the lap. Do not bend the head forward.
2) Test your nostrils. Which one is the most clear? Start your alternate nostril breathing on that side.
3) Use the right hand to place your pointer and middle finger between your eyebrows. Put your thumb on the outside of your right nostril and your ring finger on the outside of your left nostril.
4) Start with a complete exhalation, emptying your lungs of air. Close off your more blocked nostril (let's say it's the right) with your finger. Inhale deeply and slowly through your left nostril.
5) Close off your left nostril and exhale through the right nostril.
6) Now inhale deeply through the right nostril. Block off your right nostril now.
7) Unblock your left nostril and exhale completely through the left nostril. You've now completed one round.
8) Continue this pattern for ten rounds to begin with.
9) End by exhaling through the nostril than you began with.
10) Let the hands rest on the lap and keep your eyes closed. Observe how calm the breath and mind are.

For a demonstration, view this video on YouTube.

 

Pep Talks, Picnics, and How YOU Can Add Some Yoga to Your Life!

I've decided to add a new feature to my blog posts--a yoga tip of the day that anyone can try, even if they have no previous yoga experience. A shout out to L's cousin Ella for giving me the idea! She told L that reading my blog posts was inspiring her to make time for herself and some healthy practices in her life. Thank you to Ella in Australia and everyone else for the hugely positive feedback on these posts. I look forward to writing them every night, and I'm honoured to document and share our journey at yoga teacher training.

Fridays are always hard for me at yoga teacher training (always? Well the two I've been here for anyway). It seems that by Friday my physical body has had enough, my little brain is overflowing with new information, and emotionally I'm drained too. In addition to pushing ourselves physically, we're trying hard to integrate all this new information about the yogic lifestyle and spirituality into our current lives and belief system. And although I'm usually loving every minute of it, by Friday I am just done. And when I'm done, it really impacts all aspects of my practice and I must say I had a bit of a pity party on my mat this morning.

A had a beautiful view for morning meditation

 

We are teaching quite a few poses each day, and I think our confidence is growing. I taught poses from the chakra sequence (all floor poses). I always seem to end up with the poses that are my most difficult ones. It's hard guiding people in things that you can't demonstrate well yourself! Michelle commented that I had great use of modifications and props... but that's because I need the modifications and props myself. Oh well, beginners need yoga teachers too, right? And at least I won't intimidate my students with my crazy flexibility! 

Next week is my last week here, and to receive my 200 hour certification, I have to teach a 90 minute class and write a test. I'm apprehensive about both! I haven't written an actual test in years--but it sounds like re-writes are an option and it's multiple choice. When it doubt, pick C, right? My big day to teach is Tuesday, so I'm thinking a new yoga outfit when I go to Athens tomorrow would be a confidence booster!

After my suckiness of the morning, I rallied with a two hour nap. Theory this afternoon focused on the vishuddhi chakra located in the back of the throat, and our physical practice was designed to balance and energize this area. I always really like chakra sequences, and I gave myself a pep talk that I was in Greece, surrounded by great people, with an amazing yoga teacher, so get enjoying it! My intention for my practice was one word...ENJOY. And it worked! I had a great asana class and finally got up into shoulder stand which was a huge triumph. That pose was making me so cross that I took a three-day vacation from it, and today I finally did it! And I didn't fall asleep doing yoga nidra (dynamic sleep--kind of like savasana with guided meditation and visualization thrown in).

We had a great ending to the week with a walking meditation on a path running alongside the beach, followed by a picnic with Michelle, her husband Leonardo, and their adorable little son.

Starting out on our walking meditation

A swim was just the thing to end the day!

 

A yummy picnic on the beach with our yoga family

 

Gorgeous sunset view--as always in Greece!

 

 

 

 

Love the graffiti in the pedestrian underpasses on our way to the supermarket for some Friday night treats--like dried fruit and maybe some chocolate! Why do I keep torturing myself by walking down the wine aisle?

 

And now it's time for yoga tip of the day! Today's yoga tip is walking meditation. I am personally struggling with embracing meditation. I've never meditated prior to yoga teacher training, and I really want to benefit from this practice. Michelle assures me that meditation and breathing are the key to figuring out my life and I believe her. And meditation doesn't just mean sitting there, cross-legged with your hands on your knees. You can meditate while walking! Warning: Please make sure you are able to walk and chew gum. Otherwise this will be way too hard. Here are two different ways:

 

1) Simple walking meditation: As you inhale, walk four steps. As you exhale, walk four more steps. Repeat, focusing on your breath. You can do this as you move around the house, walk to work, walk the dogs, etc. The goal of meditation is not to have thoughts, but instead to observe the thoughts and not engage with those thoughts. Walking and breathing is a great way to focus.

 

2) More advanced walking meditation: Place your right fist over your navel with your left hand on top. Keep your focus on the ground, about three feet ahead of you. When you step, make sure it is with a heel, ball of the foot, then toe motion. As you make this motion with your foot, inhale. Then step with the next foot (heel, ball of foot, toe), and exhale. Inhale with one step, exhale with the next step, walking very slowly, with your hands on your stomach as described above.

 

3) Super advanced walking meditation: Do everything from number 2, but introduce a mantra. As you step with your right foot, say "SO". As you step with your left foot, say "HUM". Repeat with each step. This means, "I am divine." If you are in public, I recommend saying this to yourself as you will already look like something out of the Walking Dead as you shuffle slowly along and this will only draw further attention to yourself.

 

4) If you are a real overachiever, press your tongue to the roof of your mouth, going as far back as you can. This is a mudra that causes you to relax.   

 

Have a great weekend everyone--I'm excited to have a bit of a sleep in then a shopping day in Athens tomorrow!



 

 

 

Misalignments, Mantra, and Metamorphic Technique

Today was a bit of a flat day. Belgian A left early this morning, and her absence has left a hole in our little group. Instead of eight, we are now seven, and it feels like we are missing a whole bunch of people instead of one!

The highlight of my morning was L's scrambled eggs. Eggs aren't provided here for our breakfast, so L bought some in the supermarket yesterday. She whipped up some delicious scrambled eggs on homemade whole wheat toast for us. I really felt the lack of ketchup, but that condiment with all its sugar and preservatives is definitely on the naughty list.

We are gradually teaching more and more each day. Every day we lead a sun or moon salutation and teach a few poses. Today I actually taught quite a few poses--tadasana, triyaka tadasana, warriors I and II, triangle (trikonasana) and intense side stretch. It went reasonably well although I think I demonstrated both right and left sides on my left side both times. I thought that I was turning to face the class but just kept using the same leg. Oops.

After our asana practice, it was my turn for a one on one talk for Michelle. She meets with each of us individually to find out how we are doing physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, and provides suggestions for how to move forward on our yogic path, Based on what we discussed, Michelle strongly recommended that I work hard on pranayama (breath), mantra, and meditation. I love mantra, I'm okay with the breathing thing, but meditation is definitely the Achilles' heel of my yoga practice (as in I'm terrible at it). But I'm making a daily commitment to practice and improve.

This is me except with meditation

 

I was still feeling drained from too much sun, or detoxing, or too much yoga, or whatever so I had a great nap after lunch. The kind when you fall so soundly asleep that you drool and think it's the next morning when the alarm goes off. I got it together with a cup of black tea (yay caffeine) and made myself ready for our afternoon session with Marita. Today was really interesting. It was all about yoga therapy and how we can analyze people's posture and select yoga poses that fix the issues they are experiencing For example, I have scoliosis which is an S curve in my spine. There are a number of yoga poses I can do to strengthen the muscles on both sides of my spine that will correct or lessen the severity of this imbalance. Marita knows how to grab our attention too--she introduced her topic by saying, "Let's talk about spinal imbalances today. We all have them and it's really quite fun." Fun was a strong word but it was definitely really interesting. We also measured each other's legs and feet to determine if we had imbalances on each side of our bodies. Our homework is to analyze each other's posture which will probably be hard but better than asana study!

 

One of the best parts about yoga teacher training is the people you meet here. I've already learned so much from my yoga friends, and tonight J offered to do a quick workshop on metamorphic technique. We had her talk about this therapeutic practice and we were interested to learn more. It's a technique of light hand, feet, and head massage that can have a lot of benefits. Find out more on her website here.

A doing metamorphic technique on my head

 

It was really relaxing learning the technique on each other, and we decided to end the night with some mantra practice. I joked that this is the crazy kind of stuff that yogis do when they get together--forget BYOB, it's bring your own mantra! And it really was bring your own mantra. A number of us had a mantra to share and took turns leading us in singing the mantra. It was a really tranquil ending to another day at yoga teacher training!