Today, my shoulders feel…hmmm… not sure yet. We’ll find out when I teach headstand tonight! If nothing else, it should be entertaining!

1. Friday March 6, 5:15-6:45 PM, Yogasource Los Gatos 90-minute Power Yoga Class
2. Sunday March 8, 7:30 PM, Lululemon Santa Row 60-minute Vinyasa Flow Class

Check my calendar for details. Sunday’s class will be a very basic Vinyasa that will open and strengthen the entire body with some cool tunes.

Friday’s class will focus on headstand. I’ve wanted to teach a headstand class for a while but I’ve avoided it because my core strength has been in the potty. Yet no matter where my core strength is, I’m always able to get myself up into headstand in some format, whether I pike my legs (using more core strength) or bring my knees to my chest (using less core strength).

I love inverting. Turning your world upside down has wonderful effects on the body. The gravitational pull of your body in the opposite direction creates tons of space in your spinal column. Whenever I travel on a plane and have been sitting for a long time, my back ends up in knots. As soon as I get to the hotel room, I plop down a hotel towel on the ground, do some gentle warm ups then pike up into hand stand two or three times for 5 to 10 breaths. Voila, pain is gone. Going upside down somehow resets my spine, relaxes my tight muscles and reminds other muscles how to engage a pain-free standing and sitting posture. Plus, handstand is as invigorating to me as double espresso. I don’t normally caffeinate. I don’t exactly need it given I’m a bit of a spaz. But hand stand has a way of waking up your body and mind.

Headstand on the other hand, has a more calming effect and can be used to close your practice. I first learned headstand long before I was a regular yoga practitioner. I bought a yoga book and basically taught it to myself in my living room-without the use of a wall. Because the book didn’t mention using a wall. Imagine that. Today, I’ll use the wall whenever I feel my core could be at risk of failing me. Because it’d be nice to be able to practice again another day.

So Friday is headstand night. But just because it’s a headstand focus doesn’t mean we’ll ignore other areas of the body. One of my favorite things about power yoga is its natural tendency to address all planes of the body: front, side, back, top and bottom (standing). To prepare for headstand, much of the focus will be on shoulders and core, however we’ll be sure to open and strengthen hips, thighs, hamstrings, arms, spine and side body. Seem like a lot to cover in 90 minutes? Well, give it a try and find out!

2/4: UPDATE: I’m a dork. I can’t tell time. I skipped school the day they taught that lesson. I had listed 75 minutes for first class but typed in a 90-minute time slot and the other classes were showing 105 min. Oh lordy. You don’t want to listen to me for that long. The calendar updated for proper times now. Now back to your regular program.

The schedule’s published.  For the month’s of February and March, FREE Power Yoga class, every Friday evening, 5;15 PM,  except February 20 and March 13. Better get my lu lu’s washed.

Check this calendar or the YogaSource web site  or the YogaSource Live Schedule for details.

Unwind from the week’s stress and open the body for the weekend! Come on and play for a Friday evening after work. It will be a great start to your weekend. For all of you weekend warriors who run, ride, garden and just do all the things that cause you to wake up Monday morning slightly stiff, well, here’s your chance to detox and ready the body before you do those things.

Besides, its free. And a money back guarantee from me if you don’t feel good after class!

Speaking of Mr. Wild Dingo, Internet, I need a little sympathy.  A few nights ago, he made a trip to CostCo and came back with some really cheap chocolate for our backup stash. You know, the kind of stuff you’ll break down and eat because you ran out of your favorite good stuff, but you really need a hit bad. So he knows that I always have a stash of cheap stuff, or a stash of expensive cookies that I keep around in case I get a surprise visitor. Only those cookies never really stay around. So I resorted to stashing yucko chocolate as my emergency back up. Only lately, I haven’t had any back up chocloate and I’ve been a bit too busy to buy any of the good stuff, let alone the “back up” stash.

So Mr. Wild Dingo was kind enough to buy a REALLY big bag of back up cheapie stuff, without me even asking.  Snaps to him, huh? But wait. The shoe is about to fall.

The other day, I’m working hard and my body starts to call out for chocolate. I mean its really begging for a hit of it, good or cheap stuff. So I go to the kitchen to the place where I put the cheap stuff, only to find it missing! Mr. Wild Dingo HID the cheap stash of chocolate on me! Doh! How could he be so cruel?

Now Internet, please tell me, isn’t this grounds for early termination? Or should he pay a penalty? This is no way to treat the person who makes him his dinner. I mean, unless he wants to hire someone to pre-taste it for him.

And by the way, he’s going to have to put a better thinking cap on for hiding places if he wants to trick a chocolate monster like me. Sure, I had to delay my fix for 10 minutes as I got out the step ladders and looked through all the cabinets. He doesn’t exactly know yet that I broke into the cheapie bag. He’ll find out though. When it’s gone.

Way before we moved into this money pit-life-sucking vampire of a house (no I’m not bitter, why would you ask?), I had a personal yoga practice. I’d ride and race my bike several days per week, fit in about 2 or 3 yoga classes and still make time for a personal practice where I’d discover new things about poses and how they helped me mind, body and spirit. My personal practice was where all the “ah ha’s” in yoga happened for me. Way before I even attended a yoga class, I’d learn how to use my core to lift up into headstand using a bunch of yoga books and an old mat in my living room.  I also learned how to get into arm balances without falling on my face and the secret to bone stacking. Whether my practice was for 10 miniutes before a bike ride or two hours, it was the thing that kept my body from being injured or pushing myself  too far in either a yoga class or other activities.

Then the money pit happened. And sure, I went ahead and completed a teacher training program last year hoping that would get me back to my personal practice. But it didn’t. Instead, the money pitt/life vampire house kept me distracted.  And yet there are so many things in yoga that I discover every day that I’d love to share as an instructor. But here’s where the catch happens. I actually have to speak in front of people. Eee gads. I had been a teacher a few times in my life. I taught aerobics to get me through undergraduate school and was a Psychology TA in grad school. As a Psychology TA, I was lucky enough to have the wise-crack students who’d blurt out “do you believe in spontaneous combustion” in my classes. I wish I knew then, what I know now. Those wisenhiemers would have gotten a free lesson in spontaneous combusion. Oh ya.

For obvious reasons, being an aerobics instructor was much easier! I kept them all too winded to ask me any silly questions. But even so, I never really felt comfortable speaking in front of a group. Whether I was standing in front of 18-year old psychology students or in front of a bunch of people wearing my Jackson Pollock leotard and tights–that’s me to the right there, rockin’ it Pollock style’–I always had that knot in my stomach that told me I should run.

I made the resolution to get my personal practice back this year, and as a way to commit to that, I offerd up some free yoga classes (yes FREE)  at YogaSource Los Gatos on Friday evenings, 5:15 pm. Speaking in front of y’all shouldn’t be too hard. As long as my brain doesn’t crack when I forget what pose is next. 

If you haven’t been to the YogaSource Los Gatos studio, you don’t know what you’re missing. Unlike a lot of the smaller, cramped studios in the area, this one is newly built, gorgeously furninshed and has two rooms for multiple classes. Showers and all the accomodations are available and you may be tempted to purchase some of the fabulous lines of clothing that the studio carries.

I don’t know the schedule just yet, but as soon as I do, I’ll post it here. So check the YogaSource calendar of when those FREE Friday classes are happening and stop by. I promise there will be great music and you’ll have some fun. If you don’t have any fun, I’ll give you your money back. 

Just, please, no questions about spontaneous combustion.

Before class, in the yoga parking lot, I ran into a friend (I won’t name names, but we’ll call her Stacy since that’s her name). We decided to get spots next to each other. The only few spots open were in the front row in the corner, so we took those spots.

Stacy’s hot. I mean, really hot–model hot. Perfect everything. She’s the kind of hot that makes most men foam at the mouth. What makes her hotness even worse is that she’s also a sharp wit with a clever sense of humor. She’s also a great yogi, strong and graceful and great to watch if you want to learn good alignment. We practice next to each other a lot and by now, we can look at each other, know what the other is thinking and have a quick laugh over the shared thought.

I don’t know what happened, but somehow in the first 15 minutes of class, she fell out of a very simple standing pose, like she was drunk or something. She snickered. I caught her gaze in the mirror and whispered, “Pipe down!” So she snickers some more. So I whisper, “Gitt ‘tout” in my best Ahnold voice. Then she loses it and can’t stop. Of course the virus is airborne so I start giggling, uncontrollably. For the next 20 minutes we stumbled through our asanas, as if inebriated from six or seven margaritas. We kept right on giggling, with our mouths closed (which makes trying to stop even worse) over absolutely NOTHING. It was that painful kind of giggle that stabbed me in the gut. AND I COULDN’T…FRICKIN’…STOP!

This isn’t the first time “stupid” laughter has happened to me and I’m sure it’s not uncommon for most people to have had happen a few times. But I seem to experience it more than most and in the most serious situations: at funerals, in hospitals, in corporate meetings or when someone is raging angry.

Let’s hope I’m never am held at gunpoint. I can just picture the mugger: “I’m f-in’ serious! Give me your damn money or I’m gonna shoot you! Stop laughing right now! I mean it! Stop it!” Bang, I’m dead and the mugger is $3.50 richer.

Anyway, usually, whenever I find I’m laughing inappropriately, I just excuse myself to retain some semblance of composure. But I couldn’t do that here. I ran through all the possible scenarios of trying to stop this preposterous behavior and quickly concluded leaving would absolutely be the worst thing to do because:

1. I’d have to weave my way through rows of angry yogis to the back door and feel them judge my ridiculous behavior.
2. Their stares would only make me laugh louder and I’d drown out the teacher.
3. I couldn’t trust my composure to walk casually and instead only saw myself stumbling into someone’s perfect dancer pose and knocking them over.
4. Leaving and then coming back to the mat next to Stacy would force me to look at her face and then it would start all over.

So I was stuck there. The entire time, fumbling through my poses like a drunken fool, trying not to look at her, not even once. Which is kind of hard to do in front of a mirror.

At this point, I’m laughing so hard, snot started to drool from my nose. And then it was time for handstand. Ah! The perfect pose to drain the snot back into my nose. I don’t know how I got up into handstand while giggling, but I was really happy to get the snot back into the nose.

We were in the corner of the room and doing our best to contain our sounds but I could feel every single person’s eyes burn us with contempt. All 60 pairs of them. Yoga is serious business and you better not frack with your neighbor’s meditation, let alone 60 yogi’s meditation. Every time we tried to stop, something would trigger a new round of giggles. I’d get to the point where I’d stop laughing and try to restart my ujjayi breath. Only I had been laughing so long, I had built up reserve of phlegm in the back of my nose and throat. So my ujjayi breath sounded like Darth Vader under water. And that made Stacy laugh even more. Which of course, made me laugh even more.

Eventually the class grew bored with us, since they weren’t in on the joke (even though there wasn’t one), and pretended we weren’t there. Like we were two wall flowers–drunk wall flowers–who couldn’t stop disturbing the class with girlish laughter. I kept expecting the yoga teacher coming over and grab each of us by the ear and toss us out the door. But that never happened. Instead we eventually managed to stop laughing after what seemed like an eternity. Still, I won’t be surprised if I find a sign on the wall with our head shots, instructing teachers to separate us in class.

I just hope this never happens to me while I’m teaching. Which means of course, it probably will.

A “stressor” is anything that provokes stress, an event or context that elevates the adrenal stress response and disrupts homeostasis in the body. Typically stressors fall into categories such as environmental stressors (traffic sounds, crowds, pollution), daily events (hectic work days, late for appointments, big projects due, chauffeuring children to events, rush hour traffic), life changing events (death, divorce, marriage, disease, disability). All of these are known to cause physiological and psychological changes in the body.

A “Zeitgeist Stressor” goes one step further, or wider, to include cultural, sociological or even political events or things that affect groups of people, communitites, as well as simultaneously the individual adrenal stress response. Things that fall into the category are (but not limited to) war, random violence (such as teen shootings), economical changes and technology.

As individuals, we think we’re unaffected by our own zeitgeist, but in fact, we’re merely adapting. How we’re adapting is the more relevant question. Do we really ignore the story on the news about the shooting at a local shopping center or does it actually affect our minds and bodies deeper than we’re aware? Does it feel great to be constantly connected to our technology devices or have they become a burden? In future posts, I’ll explore some Zeitgeist Stressors, or “the spirit of the times,” affects us biologically and psychologically.
Opinions that deviate from the ruling zeitgeist always aggravate the crowd.
- Germaine de Staël

Clickity Clack the flyer here.

DEETS:
Saturday, March 22, 2008
2:00-3:30 PM  (Ride or Run first if you like!)
Location: YogaSource Los Gatos

The Yoga Alliance certified program is lead by studio owner, Linda McGrath who never ceases to surprise the student with the depth of her knowledge and openness to thought. The first 100 hours begin in an offsite setting, this year, in Isla Majerus Mexico. This first week has a heavy emphasis on anatomy which ties nicely into how to instruct an asana based on anatomy. Although there is great focus on teaching the new teacher not to diagnose pain or injury, there is a great amount of attention drawn to typical injuries from sports, general living and even yoga. When a student informs his teacher of a particular injury a new teacher would feel prepared for how the student can address his practice without further injuring himself while getting the most from his practice.

So much is covered in the anatomy, starting with basics: bone, muscles, tendons and ligaments. But the curriculum takes a sidebar many times to address the individuality of every single body’s structure. An in-depth analysis of our own bodies plus review of Paul Grilly’s video on Yoga Anatomy really brought to light the differences of body structure and how one asana can and should vary from individual to individual. The point was driven home on safety first.

Along with anatomy, Linda covers teaching styles, and “how to teach” starting with the very basic sun salutation. Her approach to teaching a sun salutation is nothing short of brilliant. You’d expect to start in Tadasana (mountain pose), however, Linda starts by addressing the more difficult, high plank to low plank, focusing on alignment of the hands, shoulders, hips and elbows in both poses and proper transition. Later, the student learns how to connect the breath through movement (if not yet aware of that) and how to instruct and move with the students at the same time.

As a student in this program, I really appreciated the intense structure that Linda brought to the curriculum. She mathematically analyzed styles of yoga practices based on how well-rounded they are for the body as well as challenged the student to anatomically understand each asana. On the flip side, Linda’s sense of creativity kept the students energy engaged.

In addition to the strong focus on anatomy, the student is exposed to meditation styles (there’s a 30 minute daily morning meditation), ayurveda and the nervous system. By the end of the 100 hours, a student is able to instruct a 90-minute class.

Back in Los Gatos, the next 100 hours address the art of sequencing a vinyasa flow structured under an anatomy foundation. A teacher instructing for a particular theme, such as a particular asana, part of the body, or even a specific audience is challenged to create a 90-minute Power or vinyasa flow class for the particular subject. The student soon learns how to turn even a simple sun salutation into addressing a body part or a using the sun salutation to prepare the body for more a challenging asana to try later in the class. Linda demonstrates her own creative ability to “think outside the box” of a structured Power class and inspires the student teacher to do the same.

While the program focuses on teaching technique (how to teach), there is an equal amount of attention given to the history of yoga, starting with India’s Vedas, Upanishads and Bagahavad Gita, which served as a refresher from my college studies. Moving on, lectures covered the dualistic philosophy of Pantanjali, Krishnamacharya and his lineage, Patahbi Jois, B.K.S. Iyengar, TKV Desikachar as well as non-dualistic approaches such as Tantra and Buddhism. Each lecture left me a bit poorer, as I was always inspired to buy a new book to read!

The program has only time to touch a bit on these philosophies, however it does challenge the students’ own considerations about each one. The focus of this program is given mainly to teaching a creative, challenging, focused and safe yoga practice, which is perfect for the beginner teacher. It’s well-roundedness truly prepares the individual properly. Even the most hesitant, introverted individual will feel ready to address a class full of eager yogis. Although it was sad for it to come to an end after three months, the timing felt just right. Overall, I felt the 200-hour Teacher Training Program at YogaSource Los Gatos program was truly nourishment for the mind, body and soul.

Anyway, before the envy hits you, you should know the days were filled with either practicing yoga, in a lecture about anatomy of movement, or doing homework for the next day’s assignments and practice. It was fairly busy week, and throw in the fact that I’m studying Power Vinyasa yoga, a fairly athletic form of yoga that builds strength, flexibility and a little bit of endurance, you can begin to get the picture of how challenging this has been both physically and mentally. You should feel sorry for me. Really.

The days started off fairly gently, breakfast at 7 (huh? what kind of uncivilized person gets up before the crack of noon?) then meditation at 8 AM. Uh, ok. So om it is at 8. Officially, I should receive a big fat F for the meditation, because all I could think about was swimming with the dolphins, cruising around the island in a go-cart, wondering when Tequila Time was or which ridiculous sombrero I should buy.  But apparently failing is a huge part of meditation, so I should get a big fat A, since I was pretty darn good at failing it! (Are you feeling sorry for me yet?)

After meditation, we had a 90-minute Power Vinyasa class, each day focused on a different part of the body, followed by a lecture, an hour lunch, a two-hour break for homework (of course you did this on the beach), an afternoon lecture with a some more physical practice (you practiced teaching and taking from another trainee) and ending with a group dinner.  (If I haven’t mentioned it already, your heart should be breaking for me by now.)

The last day we had to teach a full 90-minute class as well as take two 90-minute classes, for a total of 4.5 hours of pure yoga strength training. I have to admit, I’ve done a fair amount of endurance activities, including a handful of 24-hour mountain bike races, stage racing and week after week cyclocross racing, but the thought of doing 4.5 hours of Power Vinyasa scarred the lulu lemons out of me. But by the time we finished at 6:30 pm that day, endorphins were running amok and I was ready to rejuvenate with a few adult beverages and authentic Mexican cuisine.

Ya, this pose is a piece of cake. But try doing it while drinking Margaritas without spilling one drop!

This cat has an identity problem. She’s doing downward dog!

So here’s what I learned at yoga camp:

1. I have externally rotated feet, knees and hips, which means, I’ll never be able to stand with my feet pointing straight forward.
2. My ligaments are quite loose. But don’t tell anyone. I don’t want a reputation.
3. They don’t serve alcohol in Mexico during elections (luckily we split before the elections).
4. You can catch a stomach ailment swimming in the ocean.
5. Mexican men don’t much care if you’re married or not.
6. Our thoughts do not define us.
7. Never twist a bent spine.
8. You can calm yourself down by breathing in through your left nostril.
9. It’s better to be “now here” than to be “nowhere.”
10. The more I know, the more I don’t know.

Namaste babies!