“I did not come to yoga to stretch. I came to live.”
~Maya Breuer, Kripalu Yoga Instructor

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This article is a repost from our old blog – originally dated June 2008.
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Coming to Yoga

As we age, we embrace new things, we evolve and grow in wisdom and strength. This is not always so, but it can be, if we maintain an openness to new ideas and accept life’s challenges gracefully, as difficult as that may sometimes seem.

In my own evolution I have recently embraced a challenging new thing, one that actually facilitates my ability to accept other challenges with grace and strength. That thing being yoga.

I do not know what originally drew me to yoga, especially as the attraction began a few years ago when I was in the worst physical shape of my life. Still, yoga had an unknown appeal and I began reading and learning about it. At that time I did not incorporate it into my life, but that door remained open.

Brief dabblings in yoga over the last year have shown me that it’s not easy but that it is fun, and it remained very appealing.

Now, having been vegetarian for nearly nine months, and having shed over 40 pounds towards reclaiming my college/high school weight, I just suddenly incorporated a practice of yoga into my life.

The impulse was my thirty-second birthday at the end of March. I received an organic yoga mat as a gift from my fiancé, Serge, and he also paid for my first two yoga classes at the local ashram. Those classes were in the Sivananda style of yoga.

Though the classes didn’t work out, as the instructor was like a drill sergeant, I adopted a home yoga practice that has really done something good for me.

In the very beginning I did not believe that I would be able to stick to a regular yoga practice, and doing it every day seemed like a chore. I felt silly mostly, there was hardly a single pose that I could manage to do in a full and proper way.

As a result, there was no consistency to my yoga, it was done sporadically, without much focus. For whatever reason though, my focus is sharper now, just a couple of months after that rocky start.

Yoga is not the first thing that I do in the morning, but it is always done before breakfast and before I get pulled too deeply into my work for the day. I have been doing it everyday, except Sundays, for a few weeks now and I love it!

Why do Yoga?

It is difficult to explain why people do yoga and it is just as difficult to explain even my own reasons for doing yoga. All that I can say is that it changes my life, if effects the quality of my day.

I suppose the best way that I can explain the benefit that I derive from it is: I have better flow. Both my life and my energy seem smoother and more vitalized.

What is startling about yoga, when you first come to it, is how challenging it is. Glossy yoga magazines and television workout programs all make it look so glamorous and graceful. But the truth is that those people, who can look either graceful or glamorous doing it, have been putting their effort and focus into developing their yoga practice for years.

You and I will most likely look more wonky, wobbly and somewhat pained when we begin practicing yoga. But that is okay, most kids can’t do a cartwheel when they first walk into a gymnastics class and yet, after a bit of practice and stretching, they learn how to fly through the air with ease.

Perhaps the most rewarding, and life-changing, aspect of yoga is the shift in your focus that occurs with regular practice. You learn, mayhaps more than in any other area of your life, that it is really all about the journey and in time you begin not to focus on the destination. This is a valuable life lesson which will benefit you both on and off of the yoga mat.

You will most likely arrive at a yoga practice for the physical health benefits, which are numerous. There are psychological benefits to adopting a regular yoga practice, including less tendency toward depression and a lowering of stress levels. Physical benefits range from lower blood pressure to a reversal of degenerative diseases. I particularly enjoy the increase in physical strength as well as the gentle reshaping of my muscles and overall appearance.

Plus, it is a little time to yourself, for yourself. Most of us don’t get much of that anymore.

Beginning Yoga

If you have the inclination to explore yoga, the very first thing that you may do is to type “yoga” into Google. And what you get will probably overwhelm you within a minute or two. There is just too much information out there in the modern world, and western society is majorly obsessed with eastern traditions such as yoga!

You will find out that there are different paths of yoga, most referring to its spiritual benefits. And when it comes to the type of yoga that we usually think of, the on-the-mat kind, you will find that there are several different styles, all begun by a yoga teacher or guru, each with different goals and focuses. Some of these include Hatha, Kundalini, Ashtanga, Bikram, Kripalu and Sivananda.

I would recommend for beginners to look toward the basic style of yoga, called Hatha.

So, supposing that you take my recommendation, how can you find out more?

Again, information on yoga abounds! Most places that offer yoga classes will offer Hatha. The Yoga Journal is a fantastic resource, and officially the only magazine that I have ever read from cover-to-cover. You might also want to check out a video or a book.

To save you time in choosing resources, I have listed the only two videos and the only two books that I ever found useful in exploring yoga, and that is after hundreds of dollars worth of searching.

Hatha Yoga Illustrated, by: Kirk, Boon and DiTuro The BEST book on Hatha ever!!!

Yoga Bliss, by: Tara Fraser A cute and easy beginners booklet.

Yoga Conditioning for Weight Loss (DVD) It’s great for beginners too!

Yoga Journal’s Yoga for Beginners (DVD) Simple intro video and a helpful pose guide.

Take it easy in the beginning and do not expect to look like a ballerina in your first session. Expect to look like an elephant on rollerblades, and be proud if you only end up looking like an ostrich on ice-skates.

The most important thing to remember is to try and keep your muscles (especially facial muscles) relaxed even when you are holding a position that may be physically demanding or uncomfortable. And equally important is to stay mindful of all the stretches and pinches that you are feeling in your body, be aware enough to know when you have stretched to your limit or held a pose long enough.

Following these pieces of advice will ensure that you get maximum benefits and minimum injuries from your yoga practice.

Basic Yoga Routines

Here are the three routines that I have designed for myself, each is comprised of twelve poses or asanas, mainly drawn from Hatha Yoga. Please note that not all poses are for all people and if you have any contraindications to certain poses you should not attempt them as a beginner. You can find out about what poses should not be done with certain types of injuries by looking them up in a book or at the Yoga Journal website.

When I say that I do these poses, what I actually mean is that I attempt these poses. You will not be able to do all of them and what challenges you will differ from what challenges me. Just keep at them and the full pose will come to you, as you gradually come to it.

I generally alternate these routines, relying more heavily on the first two and interspersing the third one for fun, flavor and a bit of a challenge. The opening move, sun salutation, is actually a series of poses comprised of mountain, upward salute, standing forward bend, high lunge, downward-facing dog, plank pose, four-limbed staff pose and upward-facing dog. They flow nicely into each other and the sun salute is easier than it sounds.

First Routine

Second Routine

Third Routine

These yoga routines can be as long or as short as you wish. You can do them quick and aerobic, or you can do them in a more peaceful and meditative way…the choice is yours. Most yoga instructors will tell you to do each pose, on each side, either six times or twelve times. I am still beginning, so I chose four times for now. I hold most poses for thirty seconds each, some for one minute and others I can only manage for ten seconds.

My yoga routine is usually a 15-20 minute affair, but has lasted as long as 40 minutes. After my morning yoga routine I also add a few aerobic and Pilates moves to finish up with. Generally these are sit-ups, leg-ups, scissor kicks, standing toe touches, jumping jacks and jogging in place. I finish with a yoga bow and roll up the mat until the next morning.

Be sure to always end with Corpse Pose, as this is where you rest while your mind and body integrate all that you have learned and experienced in your session.

What I like about yoga is that it offers increasing levels of challenge, and these differ for each individual yogi. I am slowly feeling my muscles and abilities develop, each day my practice is different. Yoga is never the same twice, with different muscles offering more or less stretch and resistance each morning.

I work toward supported headstand, king pigeon and toe pose. In yoga, you compete with no one and the only challenger is your own unique body. I know that there will be days when I will accomplish them and days that I won’t. And that is what keeps yoga fresh and fun.

Happy Yoga to You!

“They say that God is everywhere, and yet we always think of him as somewhat of a recluse.”
~Emily Dickinson, 19th-Century American Poetess

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This article is a repost from our old blog – originally dated April 2008.
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Today started out quite foggy and dreary, but now it seems to be brightening and drying up.

I don’t know how long this buzz will last, so I will take this opportunity to write a post about what I have recently been observing.

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So many people, myself included, spend a great deal of their spiritual life or spiritual intentions attempting to find a connection with God, the Creator, the Divine One. We look for it outside of ourself, we expect and hope for grace and guidance to come TO us.

For some religions GOD is something that one must earn, something that one attains at the end of life. GOD is something that you must believe in, dedicate to and look for. GOD wants you to teach others to believe in him, to bring others to the path of seeking for him as well.

But God exists for you, already, within yourself. SO that is the only place that we can and should cultivate our connection.

But by its nature, the Creator is in all things. You are now, and have always been, God. God is in you and is in me. The oneness of all creation never ceases, not for one moment, no matter the circumstances.

The beauty of creation (ie. All that the creator has created) is that it is limitless. Creation has all possibility, there is no limitation to the forms that it may take.

I feel this truth acutely today. How the beauty and magic of existence is equal in both the flower and the thorn, in both the new leaf of this springtime and the old dried leaves of autumns past.

The death and the birth are equally magnificent, possessing equal mystery and magic. For without the one, there could not be the other. There could not be constant birth, for we live on a limited plane, a planet that is not ever-spacious. Thus death is equally beautiful. The magic of creation is the balance in all things. God’s loving creation, the true nature of the Creator, is present in ALL, whether light or dark.

We may perceive one set of creations as being more positive or more valuable than others, but this is only our perception, not necessarily a truth.

Both the water and the plastic bottle in which it is carried are a beautiful creation of God. They are equally amazing and loving in their existence despite any attributes that they may or may not possess. Goodness and Godness are the same thing, and all is of God.

So, if God is in all things equally, without exception, it is not wrong to say that you are God, as am I.

We are all of the same Creator. You and I, the flowers and the thorns, the dog and his feces, the mosquito and any disease that it may carry, the clouds and the sun.

Owing to this knowledge that the perceived attributes, behaviors and thoughts of a person or thing can never diminish the true Godhood that it possesses, it must be true that no action or thought, feeling or mistake that you ever make can diminish your true divine nature.

You are good. You are God. That makes you divinely good, no matter what.

Let yourself embrace both the vastness and the simplicity of this reality.

In speaking it we can feel the inner truth of it and begin to let go of the pain and heaviness that we have carried with us for so long in our hearts and minds.

At every moment your inner nature is one of divine goodness, even should you choose to act in a way that you or others perceive as not good.

Accepting your innate goodness, bestowed upon you by your very creation and existence, allows you to put down all of the collected “badness” that you have carried. You no longer have to accept that “badness” as who you are. It is simply what you have done or experienced, or what others have done and experienced, but it is not a living “thing” that you must tend to and care for. You are not required to carry it with you and make it your own.

Our badness, or our conception of our badness, is merely an energy. It has been attached to us only by our acceptance of its truth. When we realize that the ultimate truth is that of our divine goodness, we may see the untruth of our continued badness and be freed of its burden.

Like both the flower and the thorn, our true inner self as well as our outward actions and experiences are divine.

I am beginning to integrate this understanding into my view of myself and my purpose and to train my Ego-mind to treat me as a divine spirit instead of a collection of actions and thoughts.

You are welcome to accept the same process yourselves.

Blessings.