Living Yoga in the Moment by Susan Jay

My jyotish teacher once told me "If you know something is supposed to happen, all you have to do is just... live."  This was years ago when I was learning jyotish, meditation, and other vedic practices that he was opening me up to.  According to jyotish there are several intensities of karma, with fixed karma, called "dridha", being the strongest.   Dridha karma  pretty much can't be be changed without some divine intervention, and is the one which most people would probably call "fate", as it is well... fixed.  

Over the years a lot of things did happen that he had predicted, but the prediction pertinent in this case is what he told me the very first time I met him.  He said that I would be a teacher later in my life.  Now I had graduated with a Masters Degree in Piano Performance, and had taught for seven years.  I had enjoyed teaching piano and watching my students grow - I just did not want to teach or pursue any sort of career with my music.   So of course, teaching piano is what immediately came to my mind, and it was an idea that I very strongly resisted.  I thought, well I guess I could teach piano much later on - I mean who knows what we could be doing years from now, but I really didn't have any interest.

Well fast forward a number of years, and what do you think I'm doing?  Teaching.  But now I am teaching yoga. Yoga was not even in my consciousness back then, but once started, my yoga practice quickly became an integral part of my everyday life.  The title of one of Krishnamurti's books is, "The Future is Now".  My teacher explained to me, "The present is dependent on the past, and the future is the present modified, therefore the future is now."  So from the time I started to practice yoga - every time I stepped on my mat - every breath, every asana - this has propelled me to this moment when I can now say that I am yoga teacher. 


I knew I was starting to fulfill this karma when I eagerly signed up for the teacher training.  Little did I know that this was also at a pivotal time in my yoga practice. As I was an intermediate series ashtangi, I was practicing a lot of backbends and was experiencing one of those breakthrough periods as the anahata chakra opens.  But the heart is all about feelings, so it was an extremely emotional time, and without going into detail, the teacher training came when I needed it.  Then the teaching kind of just happened and crept up on me as I do have a full time job, and really all I wanted to do was sub.  But somehow, my subbing morphed into a weekly class as the regular teacher had a serious medical condition, and I have ended up with regular students who look forward to seeing me.  Then a studio minutes from my home had an opening. Events seemed to almost effortlessly evolve on their own.



It is so interesting to see how life unfolds and where it takes you.  It has also been so rewarding to share this knowledge with students and open them up to their own journey.   Being present in our practice is what yoga is about - do they realize that their choice to come to a yoga class can shape their future even in the subtlest ways when they are off the mat? Pattabi Jois always said, "Do your practice. All is coming".  He was right in so many ways.

Susan Jay

Yoga Teacher RYT200 | Sherman Oaks, CA

www.urbanlilyyoga.com/teachers/susan-j

Click here to learn more about Susan

Pain Is Inevitable. Suffering Is Optional - By Sharon Wells

For decades I struggled with pain and didn’t know the source of it or why.  I went to many doctors who dismissed me as soon as they took one look at me.  Telling me that it must be all in my head, because I had absolutely no reason to be in pain.  As a professional dancer you dance no matter how painful and you try to “forget” the pain but now in my 40’s it was getting harder and harder to do that.  I was becoming miserable to my friends and family because I didn’t tell them that I was in pain because who wants to complain every day - eventually they just think you want sympathy and that you are a whiner.  I was miserable, until I developed a Yoga Practice. 

 I fell into Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga by accident, but I feel it was by design.  The heat, the spiritually and the discipline fit my style exactly.  After my first class with my teacher Baron Baptiste in 2003, I felt absolutely pain free, probably the first time since 1980.  I didn’t know why, but I knew that I had to investigate it further.  I found an incredible doctor in my local area who is a wonderful diagnostician and he did a battery of tests on me.  The test results came back and I was told that I had Lupus.  Long story short, it turned out to be Fibromyalgia not Lupus.  My immune system was so depleted that it had thrown me into symptomatic lupus but the real cause for my pain was Fibromyalgia.  Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is a widespread musculoskeletal pain and fatigue disorder. Fibromyalgia means pain in the muscles, ligaments, and tendons—the soft fibrous tissues in the body. Most patients say that they ache all over. Their muscles may feel like they were pulled or overworked. Sometimes the muscles twitch and other times they burn. More women than men are afflicted with fibromyalgia (75% versus 25%) and it shows up in people of all ages.

What causes fibromyalgia?  Although the cause is not known, there appear to be many triggering events that often precipitate its onset. Examples include: infections (bacterial or viral), physical trauma (such as an automobile accident), or the development of another disorder, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, or hypothyroidism. These triggering events probably do not cause fibromyalgia, but rather, they may awaken an underlying physiological abnormality that is already present.  My years of dancing and abusing my body (eating disorders, over exertion, divorce & STRESS) probably had a lot to do with it.  

Yoga (no matter what style) is excellent for (FMS) - it reduces stress, lubricates the joints, stretches the tendons, fascia & connective tissue so the muscles can relax when not in use.  Yoga & Meditation helps you to understand your body from the inside out and only you know how you feel or if something is wrong.  So be your own health advocate and listen to your intuition, recognize the power within to know what is right for you.  Be honest with your friends and family and let them know how you are feeling, only then can they help you.  Hugs really work for me!

“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.” ~ Unknown

For more information on Fibromyalgia Symptom (FMS) - www.fmaware.org

Namaste

Sharon Wells

Yoga On Chocolate Owner | Certified Yoga Teacher e-RYT 500, CBPYT | Hershey, PA

sharon@yogaonchocolate.com |  www.yogaonchocolate.com

Click here to learn more about Sharon.

Health & Healing Through Yoga for Children! - By Ruthann Zentner

Opening The Zen Zone yoga studio as a family friendly place came about five years ago.  I am a long-time yoga practitioner, fitness trainer, and mom.   As a yoga teacher I know the benefits of Yoga and as a mother of three beautiful girls and teaching yoga to my own children was a way to calm the storm of my middle daughters rages.  With my daughter, Hunter, she was prescribed medication for ADHD and for other behavior issues.  After countless visits to many great physiatrists and physiologist, coming up with no exercise’s to help her learn to step back and breathe.  I realized that Yoga could and would be my answer to help my 5 year old with her outbursts and rages.  She is now a super happy 11 year old that has friends, is in cheerleading & can still have her moments but overall.  Yoga has changed our family in too many ways to count.  We continue to grow as a family! 

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It is our special responsibility as parents to undertake the care and education of these intelligent kiddos coming into he world and dependent on our love and attention.  To see a child performing a yoga pose, with the poise, strength, self-discipline and confidence necessary can’t help but arouse love and joy in a parent’s heart.  To see a child’s imagination spin while their mind focuses on the satisfaction of telling a story is to know the magic of which we parents are capable.  By focusing their energy and allowing them control over their bodies we give children the power to create their own lives and live in peace and harmony with others.  

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Most of all, teaching and telling stories to kids is FUN!  To be a child again and use our personal creativity is magic.  By pulling your favorite children’s book off the shelve and acting it out, with yoga is truly not only bringing back our own childhood memories but we grow spiritually from the effort we put into it.

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For those of you who are already practitioners of the art of yoga, no more explanation about this wonderful discipline is necessary.  For those who are not, a few words of background.  Yoga is far more than a physical exercise.  It is rather a set of tools, which increase one’s awareness of the inter-connectedness of all living creation, while at the same time pointing the individual, body and soul, in the direction of radiant health.  Yoga is craft of awareness.  When we do yoga we grow compassionate.  We naturally turn toward that which is best in our natures.  We experience something similar to love. 

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As the physical body comes into balance, the mind follows.  Practicing yoga can help a child develop concentration, patience, gentleness, strength, creativity and stability. These are habits we’d all LOVE to cultivate.  They are the building blocks that create the foundation for a happy life!

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Creating an opportunity for kids to get excited about yoga and perhaps offering them a life-long tool for physical and emotional health is the reason for this article & teaching a class on “Teaching kids Yoga!”
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Albert Einstein said, “If you want your children to be smart, tell them stories.  If you want them to be really smart, tell them more stories.  If you want your children to be brilliant, tell them even more stories.”

Namaste"
Ruthann Zentner
The Zen Zone Owner | Certified Yoga Teacher 200RYT, Personal Trainer & Massage Therapist
Lee's Summit, MO
zenzoneyoga@gmail.com |  www.zenzoneyoga.com
Click here to learn more about Ruthann

Embracing Dharma! By April Martucci - October Jala Ambassador

When I first started to practice, I went into it mostly for the physical benefits. I knew that Eastern thought and philosophy intrigued me, but I didn’t know how yoga tied into all that. My intrigue was a superficial interest – I thought it was cool to like Buddhism yet knew nothing about it. After signing up for the Intro to Eastern Thought class at University, I got a tattoo of the ‘om’ symbol, and called myself Buddhist to my Catholic father one year while home for Christmas break (that caused a lot of waves to say the least). Still I really didn’t know the teachings from the heart but rather vaguely in the mind, on an intellectual level. 

When I first started taking yoga classes in 1996, I felt that it matched my physicality so well. Having been a dancer and gymnast, the movement of asana felt organic and familiar. But because I was such a restless soul, I hated that the teacher talked in the beginning and the chanting annoyed me. It took up so much time in the beginning of class, and fidgeting in my seat, I glared at the clock wondering when the sweaty part of the class would come. Then I figured out a trick: I started coming late because of my disdain for the dharma and kirtan. While everyone would be in Savasana at the end of class, I would sneak out early feeling that just lying there on your back was a waste of time, and plus I had things to do! I suffered from the disease that is so prevalent in our culture now: busy-ness. Why would I want to listen to someone talk and chant and then lie there when I could be filling up my time with some more important things? Busy-ness is our culture’s disease, and speed is our addiction.

Fast forward 14 years, and dharma and chanting AND Savasana are probably my favorite parts of class. If I am late to class now, I won’t go because of a respect I have for the teacher, the class, and the lineage of yoga. If I need to leave early, I will inform the teacher, or I will not go to the class that time. 

We live in a narcissistic culture wherein we feel we are owed something; we can just go and take what we need – for me back then, just the workout. This is very common. I see it all the time, and I despise it when someone does that to my class and me now. It is so true that traits we find repulsive in others are often characteristics that we possess ourselves. Seeing people have that ‘I will take what I need’ attitude makes me cringe because it’s poor etiquette and gross, but perhaps also because I was guilty of that at one point. As the saying goes, ‘every sinner has a future, but every saint has a past’. Unashamed of the past, I bow down to all the gurus who brought me to a more peaceful place in life. I thank the friend who wronged me, the boyfriend who betrayed me, and the co-worker who ratted me out – they are all gurus. If we can see our lives as our biggest teachers, or gurus, we discover that suffering lessens, and our perspective broadens. We think bigger in the sense that we are not calculating our revenge or doing harm to that person who has done us harm, but instead we can thank them for opening our eyes to certain truths. This doesn’t mean that you need to go back to that negative energy, but you can see those people along the way as being useful to you. They taught you a lesson, and they should be thanked for this, and you move on.

Not sure exactly when I started to embrace the dharma and the chanting, but it came eventually. Disappointment, trauma, heartbreak and loss most likely made me more inclined to sit and listen to the teacher or chime in with the rest of class while they chanted to Shiva. The yoga is a state, not something you do. Dharma, chanting, asana are all tools that help you get to that state called yoga. 

Yoga is the state in which you are present – not grasping, clinging or attaching. The second lesson in this would be that we cannot attach to that which we think we like or dislike today for tomorrow or in 14 years it may shift and become our most favorite thing. Staying detached from our likes and dislikes also decreases suffering. You remain open, receptive. And when it’s time for Savasana you are receiving all that you need, enjoying the benefits of the ancient practice, and just wishing that the teacher keeps you there longer..

April Martucci
Yoga Teacher | New York, NY

yogawithapril@gmail.com |  www.yogawithapril.com

Click here to learn more about April

Chase Your Dreams They Are All You've Got! - By Nicole Shanks

When I was a little girl my dad would tell me “all you have to do is put your mind to it”. I would just keep thinking to myself how much I wish he would stop saying that. Then there was my mom always reminding me “whatever you do, do it because you love it”. After many years of hearing that same speech I was sitting with my dad as an adult and he said “you’re only as big as your dreams, if you don’t dream what are you living for”.  I never forgot those words from that day. I have always been a dreamer, a bird on the wings of fate. You can promise I took the next thing that was sat in front of me that sounded awesome.

The problem was I was chasing the wrong dream. No matter what job or interest I pursued I was always searching for the next best thing. With each job I made more money and better benefits but most of the time I was just looking for ways to get more days off to be me. I would take off work and sneak away to yoga classes all over to find a happy place to be. Finally after many years of searching I found a teacher training that worked with my busy schedule. I signed up and began the process. I had never been so involved in something. It was like I saw yoga everywhere I went. The more I learned the more I wanted to share.
As my interest grew in the yoga world, so did my dreams. Only this time I wasn’t in some huge hurry to achieve it all at once. I wanted to experience each step and work toward the big picture. With each passing day I was focused and ready for each challenge as it came. One day the light bulb came on and I realized I had been “putting my mind to it” all this time. It was like what my dad had been saying made since. I just never had anything I wanted to focus on. I found that thing I Love to do!

Every person I would talk to about my dream would look at me in surprise and say you want to quit your job and do what!? Even the day I gave my two week notice my boss said “well in a couple months, if you can’t put food on the table. Give me a call.” I just said thanks and smiled when I shook her hand. I’m not going to say chasing your dreams is easy or that every moment is a fairy tale, but it sure beats running away from them.

Nicole Shanks 
Surya Luna Studio Owner | Certified Yoga Teacher 200RYT | Swansea, IL
info@suryalunastudio.com |  www.suryalunastudio.com 
Click here to learn more about Nicole

Out of the Darkness - By Stacey Latus

I've struggled with addictions most of my life....food, alcohol, love. It was only by way of yoga, a 12-step program and a relationship with a higher power that I was able to finally put down the drink, face my inner demons and create a better life for myself.  

I found yoga in 1997. There was a class offered at my university and a friend invited me to go. I had no idea what to expect, but it ended up being love at first asana. Finally, something active that I could do that didn't involve running and wasn't supposed to be competitive. The first time I experienced savasana, I cried. Until that point in my life, nothing had given me the same calm and peace I felt as when picking up a drink (that is, until I found a 12-step program years later). This was mind-blowing and yet, still being young and a freshman in college, I continued to drink on and off for the next 10 years. But as they say in the program I am in, and as in yoga, a seed had been planted and there was no turning back.  

Over the years, my practice had ebbed and flowed, as did my drinking, but yoga was always in my life, even if I wasn't practicing asana. At times, usually when I was sober, stepping onto the mat was a great place of serenity, a safe place for me to turn, a time to connect with the infinite. At other times, mostly when I was knee deep in my addiction, yoga became somewhat of an enemy. Practicing made me look at myself, emotionally and spiritually and sometimes I wasn't willing or ready to do that.

Today as a yoga teacher, I have the opportunity to share my experiences with other teachers as well as my students. It always amazes me how many people are affected by and struggle with addiction....and I love learning how yoga has helped them.

Yoga and sobriety have given me the opportunity to develop a deep connection with a higher power and a profound understanding of myself. My practice is constantly evolving and has brought contentment and growth that every day when I roll out my mat I can't wait to see where this journey will guide me.

OM shanti
OM peace

Stacey Latus 

Happy Earth Yoga Owner | Certified Yoga Teacher 200RYT | Gaithersburg, MD

info@happyearthyoga.com |  www.happyearthyoga.com

Click here to learn more about Stacey

 

Prana The Key To Spiritual Awakening - By Adriana Kyser

If you have been paying attention, you know how popular yoga has gotten within the last few years. It seems that new yoga studios are opening in almost every corner, celebrities are endorsing it, and even doctors are recommending yoga to their patients. We cannot deny that yoga has become mainstream sparking everyone’s curiosity and interest.

People that want to start a yoga practice find themselves asking questions like: How do I know if yoga is for me? Does it really work? Can it help me? There are a so many styles of yoga these days, than can confuse anyone try to find the right yoga class. Some of yoga classes concentrate on resting in simple supported postures in quiet rooms. Others are very dynamic, pushing students to the edge of their physical capacity. Some styles of yoga play music while others are done without. Some yoga styles concentrate on physical alignment, while others offer a more spiritual approach. There is so much variety impossible to describe them all.

As different the various styles of yoga may be, they all share one thing in common: No matter what path and style you choose, they all work.  You can feel the effects as soon right after class. People notice that they always feel better after practicing yoga that when they first walked in. Many wonder why and how does it work? To start, Yoga teaches you to breath with awareness, slow down, calm your mind, strengthen your body and lengthen the spine. Yoga helps your body and mind relax lowering your blood pressure and heart rate. In turn you can see benefits like better digestion, stronger immune system, and better sleep after few weeks of practice, things that tend to be affected by stress in our lives. 

I often hear people tell me, I get how yoga can benefit everyone but what makes all the different styles of yoga work if they are so different? That is a good point; the effects of a strong Ashtanga practice cannot be the same as a restorative one. People that usually come to those classes are definably different as well. Yoga teachers and practitioners all agree that Prana (life force) is the key. Almost all styles of hatha yoga increase the flow of prana, life force, in your body. Prana is the essential life force that sustains everything.

Yogis believed that the intelligent use of Prana is the key to spiritual awakening. The practice of yoga asanas helps us access this life force by holding a pose and breathing into it or breathing through it. The main reason people feel better after practicing yoga is because in one way or another they increased the flow of Prana in their bodies, making them fell more balanced, centered and relaxed. The more you learn and practice yoga, the more you get to know which poses will help you at any particular time. You may notice that a particular style of yoga works best for you or need the most at certain periods of your life. That means that your yoga practice will often change accordingly to your body’s physical, emotional and spiritual needs.

After all that is what yoga is all about, to helps us bring balance, health and overall wellness into our lives. It does no matter what type of yoga you choose to practice as long as you do it with dedication, devotion and awareness the flow of Prana will definably increase in your body providing you with all the benefits yoga has to offer. 

Certified Yoga Teacher 500RYT | Flower Mound, TX
adri@innerbeautyyoga.com |  www.innerbeautyyoga.com

Click here to learn more about Adriana