Inversions

I love being upside down. I've been known to randomly kick up into a handstand in the middle of the sidewalk on Main Street. When I'm upside down, the world looks different. One of my best friends and I used to tell each other "go stand on your head" when we were in a foul mood. When your head is below your heart, you allow oxygenated blood to cleanse and refresh your brain. Serotonin levels, which are your feel-good chemicals, also increase. And there's just something really thrilling about finding the exact spot of balance where you are floating in the air, stable and strong, toes reaching for the clouds.

But lots of beginners have a lot of fear of inversions, which is perfectly normal. The biggest fear is that you'll fall over and hurt yourself. I remember getting so frustrated each time I would topple to the ground. If I was lucky, I could roll out gracefully. But most of the time, I would just crash to the floor in an awkward sideways thud. I know that I'm not making inversions sound very appetizing here, but the reality is that you probably will fall the first few times you try them, and that's ok. I have some suggestions to help get past those awkward beginning moments...

Build your foundation. Get stronger. I recently learned that the key to a good handstand is not necessarily in your shoulders, but in your ABS (engaging uddiyana bandha, or navel lock) and lifting up OUT of your arms. So I have been working to strengthen my tummy, and I'm starting to feel much lighter when I kick up there. We always warm up for forearm balance (Pincha Mayurasana) with a couple dolphins first, to help strengthen our arms and shoulders.

Practice with a wall. Balancing against a wall is an extremely useful tool to help you build up the strength in the appropriate muscle groups to be able to balance comfortably in inversions. It also helps you eliminate some of the fear because you have something there supporting you. It's kind of like using training wheels when you first learned how to ride a bike. You used them initially to get the feeling and build your confidence, and then you eventually took them off and rode solo!

In my opinion, the more you practice, the less scary inversions will be! It's kind of like my philosophy about being a new yoga teacher...the more I teach, the more comfortable I will get! So pick an empty wall in your house, and every time you walk by that wall, lift yourself up into an inversion and breathe...

One last thing: Be sure to rest in child's pose after practicing inversions to help balance out the blood in your head. I don't want anyone passing out from standing up too quickly!

How do you turn your frown upside down when you're in a funk?

Choose love,
Grace

Firsts

Last week I taught my first "real" class at Yoga Ah. I say "real" because I had already taught one class there during my training, but at that time I was being observed by my teacher and hadn't received my certification yet. This time it felt official.

Just me and the students.

I was terrified.

Sweaty palms. Heart racing. Fight or flight response definitely kicking in.

Rather than focusing on my silly blunders here (I said reach for your big FEET instead of big toe and got some chuckles), I am choosing to share with you some important lessons from this first class experience. My very wise friends have steered the all-too-convincing negativity of the gremlin on my shoulder to a healthier and more self-compassionate direction. Here are their simple--but powerful-- suggestions:

*Be yourself!
*Teach what you know (and you know more than you think you know): it doesn't have to be complicated. Less is more. Creativity will come with time.
*It will become less robotic-feeling and more natural with time.
*Have FUN and enjoy yourself.
*Be kind to yourself.

What lessons have you learned from your "firsts"?

Choose to love yourself, even when it's hard...
...especially when it's hard.
Grace

Watch Me Grow

Watch Me Grow

by Mima (Guest Services Dept, Omega 2005)

There's something to be said about

Finding the natural in the uncomfortable

With interactions sparking revelations

In and around monotony

Of the everday

It can be said, life is painful

But here the reality painful or not

Remains--always--delightful.

Breathtaking. Soul-inspiring. Watch me grow.

If I could give in to my feelings of anger,

Jealousy, lust, love, repulsion. If that is

At all possible--it's here my home, my heart,

My mirror.

I can watch the fire die while in me

It burns alive, and smile, and say,

Watch me grow.

I can break a heart or two and have mine

Broken though find a friend in an

Enemy and hate them with only

Sacred intention. Watch me grow, watch me grow,

Watch me grow.

There's something to be said--in this

World of chaos, dead, or dying, amongst

All the unknowns.

There's something to be said

about finding the natural,

finding the whole.

Standing in

It, living through it, and watching ourselves

Grow.

Zen

"The only zen you find on the tops of mountains is the zen you bring up there."
~Robert Pirsig

My Mum, sister Karen, and baby niece Melody flew from NH to OH to visit me this past weekend. It was a delightful whirlwind of baby baths in the kitchen sink, diaper changes, feedings with many, many spoons, and lots and lots of Graeter's ice cream for the grown-ups! It was my niece's first plane ride, and she's only six months old. My first flight was when I was 18, and I chose Paris, France as my destination (daring, yes?). I have loved everything about flying since that first jaunt to Paris: meeting random inspirational people in airports, trying to squeeze into a bathroom stall with a rolling suitcase, take-offs and landings, cocktail napkins with cheesy airline slogans, etc. But my absolute favorite thing is the window of time right after I breeze through security and arrive at my gate and right before my flight starts to board. Those are true moments of zen for me (please note: I always arrive 2 hours early, so this gives me plenty of time to just hang out). The only place I have to be is right where I am. I don't have any responsibilities to distract me like laundry or cleaning. I can just sit back and relax. I often people-watch, and I do a good deal of writing in these moments of presence. The announcements over the loud speaker serve as a lullaby to calm my nervous system. I am usually so jazzed up about flying to wherever I am going that it helps for me to have some down time to pause and reflect on the here and now. We have all experienced these moments at one time or another, and this peace that we discover can be tapped into at any time. The trick is knowing how to access it. I would recommend thinking back to a time when you felt centered and totally in the moment. Connect with your 5 senses to re-create the location, smells, colors, and energy of this moment in your mind. Any time you feel like you need a mini-vacation, you can tap into your inner zen moment without even having to get on a plane!

What are some of your favorite zen moments?

Choose love,
Grace

Savor the Flavor

For New Year's Eve 2009 I savored a scrumptious dinner at my favorite restaurant, Honey. Every time I dine there, the rich flavors of each dish merge together to create a lively party in my mouth. And I am reminded that I want to learn more about spices...

I remember back in my first days living in my first apartment away from home, reading a recipe that called for 1/4 tsp. of dill weed. I was pinching pennies to the max, so I just couldn't rationalize spending 5 bucks for a large jar of spice I might never use again. I brainstormed possible substitutions, but my eventual solution was to creep into my parents' kitchen with a zip lock baggie and capture a dash of dill from my mother's plastic tupperware spice organizer (I think that's as close as I ever came to stealing). But now I am a real grown up, and I have my very own lovely spice collection made of irregular shaped glass bottles and metal tins, alphabetically lined up on a miniature lazy susan in my cupboard.

Piled up next to this swirling spiceland are boxes and boxes of herbal tea. My most recent addition to my tea collection is Numi's Organic White Rose. I first experienced this tea at Honey: before, during, and after that flavorful New Year's Eve meal. I think our server might have tired from bringing me refills on hot water over and over again, but I just couldn't stop myself from drinking more and more. I relished the delicate floral scent, the blushing of the water as it turned slightly pink while steeping, and the genuine taste of love. I was so inspired by this particular flavor that I searched high and low at various grocery stores and gourmet shops to find it. But after much exploration with no success, I let the "buy local" ideal go, and I was prepared to order it online and pay exorbitant shipping costs. It was just then that I discovered the tea as I was casually browsing the grocery section at our brand new super-sized Target, of all places! I couldn't stop smiling as I went through the check out line. The law of attraction came through for me- again!


I also adore lavender-flavored delicacies...lavender lemonade and lavender ice cream are amongst my favorites! Perhaps because lavender has a natural calming effect? Or perhaps because it's so different...


How can you savor the flavor of life?

Choose yummy love,
Grace

Yoga Retreat

Thought I'd spread some yoga luv this weekend with a link to Eric Laurtis' (talented photographer and storyteller) blog entry about his recent yoga adventures in Mexico. He shared a gorgeous slideshow, documenting the glory of sunsets and the beauty of everybody (every-BODY).

What past experience made your heart unexpectedly, blissfully sing?

Remember that experience with all your senses, and feel the bliss again- right now.

Rediscover love,
Grace

Food

Last night was Game Night- a monthly event that I initiated in January to encourage socializing and sharing amongst all my friends. It's a potluck and BYOB scenario, and there are always brownies that get devoured pretty much instantly. I munched on carrot sticks and a delicious vegan cheese dip as my friends eyed me with scrutiny and wonder (probably more of the latter since they ARE my friends!). I sighed and reminded them that I love food just as much as they do. But over the past few years, as I've practiced more and more yoga, I've become incredibly fine-tuned to my body's responses to foods. I prefer to nurture my body with foods that fuel rather than depress. I eat almost totally gluten free (which basically means no wheat products), as little sugar as possible (NO high fructose corn syrup!), and as minimally processed foods as I can. I try to eat organic, too, since I'd rather not eat nasty pesticides. I want to encourage you to think about the food that you ingest and how your body feels after you eat it. Personally, I want to feel alive and energized after eating: not depleted, tired, and irritable (sound familiar?!). My friends tend to take the defensive and insist that they are honest to goodness happier when eating an extra large ice cream sunday. I think the happiness from sweets is only temporary, and in the long run will probably make them gain weight and just have them craving more and more. As I always remind them, life is all about choices. Yes, sometimes it's more expensive or more "work" to eat the way that I choose to. But it's worth it for how amazing I feel!

How do your food choices make you feel?

Choose love!
Grace

PS Two foodie books that I recently borrowed from the library:
"Kitchen Literacy: How We Lost Knowledge of Where Food Comes from and Why We Need to Get It Back" and "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto". I'm still reading them, so I can't quite give you a thumbs up or down, but I'm definitely intrigued...