Wednesday's Words of Wisdom

It is good to have an end to journey towards;
but it is the journey that matters in the end.
Ursula K. Le Guin

How many times have we come to our yoga mat with the determination to "get" a pose. It doesn't matter which pose we "get", that is the end. The practice of yoga, not just asana practice, is about the journey, about discovering our true Self, about connecting to something higher within ourself. Every moment of every day is a step on that journey. We can bring determination with us, but let us not forget to bring joy.

Peace for now :)

Weekly Posture

Virabhadrasana 1

Virabhadra-A warrior from Indian mythology

It may seem contradicting to practice a pose named after a warrior, because a warrior is one who uses violence to obtain what he wants and yoga class is usually about finding peace. But think back to your last practice on the mat, were you "fighting" with your ego to make it through the postures and classes? That "fighting" is a struggle between the self and the Self, the ego and the spirit. So practicing Virabhadrasana 1 is not about going out and "fighting" but about embodying the strength and grace of a warrior to find peace and stillness between our ego and spirit. Let's look deeper at what this pose has to offer us on and off the mat.

Begin in Tadasana(mountain pose) with the feet hips distant apart. Step your left foot back about 3 1/2 feet straight back so that you are not crossing the left leg behind the right leg. Always make sure that your back toes are pointing in towards your belly button. Bend your right knee so that it lines up right above your right ankle and is pointing forward over your middle two toes. Physically you will feel the left(back) calf stretching and the front of that hip stretching. The quadriceps in the right(front) leg are engaged and strengthening. To avoid fatigue in the front leg, keep both legs actively and evenly pressing into the Earth.

Next, bring your attention to your torso. You want your hips and shoulders to be facing the front of your mat. Raise your arms up towards the sky and press your palms together as you allow the top of your shoulders to stay relaxed and away from your ears. If it is difficult to relax the shoulders allow your palms to separate as much as needed. You should feel an opening in the front of your body and a slight arching of the lower back. Ideally you gaze up towards your thumbs, but if you are feeling dizzy then keep the eyes focused softly in front of you.

Once you physically enter the pose, allow yourself to remain for 3 to 5 breaths. As you breathe, feel the lower half of your body rooting, pressing down into the Earth while at the same time, feel your upper body lengthening, almost floating towards the sky. Give in to the balance of strength and grace it takes to maintain this pose. Notice that the more you "root" down, you "grow" up. As you come back to Tadasana to switch sides, take a moment to think of all the struggles you've had in your life. Sometimes we acted in a way that makes us proud, while other times, we are ashamed of the things we may have said or done in anger, jealousy or fear. Even though we can not change the past we can learn from it. Let yourself take the wisdom of Virabhadrasana 1 into your day, your week, your year, your life and as you happen upon a struggle feel yourself being guided by that wisdom. Have the strength to stand evenly on your feet as you lift and open your chest looking your trouble squarely in the face...using the warrior that is you.

Peace for now :)


Please note: Do not practice this pose if you are suffering from heart problems or high blood pressure or exacerbates existing back pain. Avoid the pose if your knees are swollen or painful or if your balance is shaky and if you are 6 or more months pregnant. Always consult your physician before practicing any exercise.

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom

Today is
the most
important day
of our lives.
-Thich Nhat Hanh

I love this saying. It is a magnet that I keep on my fridge as a daily reminder that this is the only day I have. Yesterday is gone, tomorrow has not yet arrived. I must live as if this is all there is...because THIS is all there is!

As yogis we can go even deeper and learn to cherish each moment, not necessarily for the good or the bad but for what it is giving to us. If the moment is giving us joy, then we feel joy. If the moment is giving us grief, then we feel grief. The lesson...or rather the wisdom of today's words...is to not let our emotions "rule" us, but rather to experience the emotions of every moment with in the day...it's all that we have and tomorrow it will be gone!


Peace for now :)

Weekly Posture

Tadasana
(tah-DAHS-anna)
tada=mountain
asana=posture

When practicing yoga, we tend to give more energy to postures our ego's determine as "more difficult" but every posture in yoga should get the same amount of energy. Yoga postures are designed to bring the mind into stillness by finding a steady and comfortable balance in the body during the pose. The ego may find Tadasana easy but there are many actions the body is doing, simultaneously, to keep us connected between the ground and the sky. Also, this is an important pose because if we can feel the balance of the body in Tadasana, finding the balance in all other standing postures, whether on two feet or one, will be easier to find. Tadasana is sometimes referred to as the "blueprint" of all the standing postures, so let's take a closer look at this pose from the feet to the top of the head.

Begin by placing your feet hips width apart...draw an imaginary line from the outside of your little toe to the outside of your hip, the line should be perpendicular to the Earth. Now look down to make sure the inner edges of your feet are parallel to each other. You want to feel that the weight of your body is being distributed evenly, from the outer to the inner edges of the feet, from the toes to the heels. Now press through the ball of your big toes, pinky toes and center of the heels, strengthen the arches as you gently lift them up towards the sky. This isn't a big movement and shouldn't cause you to tense or tighten anywhere else. This is the beginning of the posture. By starting here, you will begin to feel what rooting into the Earth is all about.

Now let's work our way up the body, aligning everything on top of each other, like stacking bricks. Gently engage your quadriceps, allowing the kneecaps to lift slightly up, creating a firm but gentle support to keep you upright. Next, bring awareness into your pelvic region. You want the spine to move into it's natural curvature, so begin by allowing the pelvis to come into a neutral position. It should feel as though you are slightly sticking your tailbone back behind you, without really sticking your tailbone out...to find this neutrality, allow yourself to spend a few moments rocking the pelvis forward and back and then slowly stopping the movement and resting the pelvis ina place that feels neutral for you.

Next, we bring ourselves to the spine. You always want to visualize that your spine is lengthening up towards the sky. This sensation should begin at the base of the spine, known as the coccyx, and continue through each vertebra to the top, known as the cervical spine and then out through the crown of your head...think of that place known as the "soft spot" in infants. As you lengthen the spine, feel the lift happening at the base of your ribcage as opposed to your shoulders. Because as the spine moves up, you want the top of your shoulders to relax and feel as though they are moving down the back, towards the Earth.

Now bring your attention to the front of your body. You want to feel the chest opening and the sternum lifting towards the sky. This sensation is the result of two other actions. The first action being the stacking of the vertebrae as you lengthen the spine. The second action is to gently squeeze the shoulder blades together. When you perform these two actions together, you will feel the chest open and the sternum lift. However, you are not pushing the chest out, rather, think of it as opening the gates(ribcage) of your heart to allow your love to flow into the universe.

And finally the head and arms. Allow your arms to relax down the sides of your body, and notice that your palms will be slightly open towards the front. This happens because of the shoulder blades gently squeezing together. This action creates a rippling effect of outward rotation down the whole arm and out the finger tips. Allow your head to feel light as it rests gently on top of the spine, letting the chin drop slightly down so that your neck is in a neutral position.



Once the physical body is in alignment, allow your eyes to focus softly on one point in front of you and feel the energy of your inhale travel down your spine, into your legs and feet and deep into the Earth, rooting you. And as you exhale, feel the energy of that exhale travel through the Earth, into your feet, up your legs and spine, into your head, out your crown and into the universe above, rooting you to the heavens. Stay in Tadasana for a few minutes, breathing full, long, slow breaths and feel every muscle, cell and organ come into balance, steadiness and stillness. Observe how the mind is reacting. If your mind creates a thought, let the thought come, acknowledge the thought then let it go, like a cloud floating in the sky. Allow yourself to be unattached to your thoughts.



The beauty of Tadasana is that it's a posture that can be practiced anywhere and most importantly during our practice on our mat it can become a way for us to check in with ourselves, to quietly reflect on how our practice is going, to rest between standing postures as we prepare for the next side or the next posture. Don't let this posture become non-existent or unimportant for you...it's just as powerful as standing on our heads.

Peace for now :)

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom

Our lives are the result

of our previous actions, our karma,
and it naturally follows that,
having been ourselves the makers
of our karma, we must also be
able to unmake it.
-Swami Vivekananda

Wow! We have the capability to CHANGE our karma! This is an amazing discovery. To think that I can be in charge of how I live my life so as to create my karma, as opposed to being ruled by my karma is...energizing, eye opening and freeing.

Forget the past, forget the future and focus on how you treat everything in this present moment and observe how prosperous and fulfilling life can be.


Peace :)

Patience...it's a virtue!

Have you ever...

• been standing in line with a few items and everyone in front of you has a cart full of goodies...and no one lets you go ahead of them?

• been driving along the freeway, rocking out to your favorite radio station or cd, and someone just cuts in front of you, oblivious to the fact you were there?

• been waiting patiently at a stop light, you know your light will turn green next, and then an emergency vehicle goes through the intersection in the opposite direction and restarts the whole light cycle again....so you have to keep waiting?

• been about to get to "your" spot in yoga class and then someone was 2 seconds sooner than you were, forcing you to take another spot?

• been on an airplane, ready to taxi out to the runway, when all of a sudden, there's a delay...for an undetermined amount of time?

I am here to remind you...you are not alone. Although in any one of these moments, we feel alone and as if some higher power is punishing us for something we have already done...we are not alone. Before I began practicing yoga, I would get really angry in these situations...and I admit I still have moments when the anger gets through first...but I have begun to view these situations, not as punishments, but as learning opportunities.



The underlying principal of practicing yoga is to learn to BE in the present moment, to notice how we feel, at any given moment, especially those that test the ego. I invite you, the next time you feel your impatience rising from the depths of your core, to exhale s-l-o-w-l-y, close your eyes(as long as you are not driving) and feel your self rooting into the Earth and coming into the present moment and let go of whatever is making you angry. Watch the angry energy leave your body as you focus on filling yourself up with calm, loving energy.



If you are at a stop light, longer than your mind feels it should be...look for the beauty of nature that thrives amidst all the exhaust and concrete. If you are standing in a line...be thankful you have a few minutes to align and exhilarate the body with Tadasana (mountain pose). If you are sitting on an airplane...think of all the extra time you will have to read the book you brought and if you are finding yourself in a different spot in yoga class...notice the difference in your practice...perhaps you will be more aware of your body.

Peace for now :)

Love and Kindness is My Religion

According to Wikipedia, yoga sounds like a religion. But to many yoga practitioners, including myself, it is not viewed as a religion.

I was raised, baptized, and confirmed a Catholic. As a youngster, I enjoyed going to church. There was singing, shaking people's hands to offer peace, a little snack and the treat of a yummy doughnut after. But I was always confused. I loved the little church I attended, but there were so many other churches in my town. I remember asking my mom, "Let's go to that church, it looks so beautiful." She responded with, "We can't." "But why?", I would ask and she always replied with, "Because that's not where we go." I was learning that we were all God's children and that He loved us all, no matter what. And I went to His house to praise Him. Well, to me He had a lot of houses and I wanted to visit them all, and that's when I learned I was a Catholic and I couldn't go to the other churches because they were not Catholic. Hence my confusion. Weren't we all God's children? As I grew older, going to church lost it's luster and magic and I started to resent going and as soon as I finished with my confirmation, I left, forever.

Fast forward about 10+ years, to my discovery of yoga. Long story short, my life seemed to be spiraling out of control. I went to a couple of different churches with friends and on my own, but I always felt removed, not a part of what was being offered. They didn't seem to click with my emptiness. A friend mentioned a yoga teacher he liked and so one Saturday morning, I got up, walked to the studio, and my life was changed forever. I don't remember what the teacher had us do or exactly what she said, but I remember every fiber of my being liked it and finally felt at peace and a connection to what had seemed to be missing. I went every Saturday, nothing could stop me. I even joked with my friends that it was my religion. I was taught in my teacher training that yoga is many things. It is a philosophy, a physical practice, a science, a theory, a way of life, a passage to bliss, but not a religion.

So this is why I think yogis do not view yoga as a religion, even though when I read Wikipedia it sounds like one. Yoga does not adhere to any creeds, any rituals, such as baptism nor does it's practitioners have to attend weekly services. Yoga does have ancient texts and a moral code, that are studied and interpreted by many, but it is up to the individual how much he/she wants to follow those codes and incorporate them into their daily lives. So you could say that yoga is a religion of one. I think that yoga is spiritual. The practice of yoga, on and off the mat, may lead to a diminishing of the ego and to a connection of the heart. It may cause one to feel love and kindness for themselves and others. And isn't that what we are all searching for as we live out our days on Earth?

Peace for now :)

note: bold and underlined words are links. please feel free to click on them.

Honoring the Sun

Today is Summer Solstice. A day that many cultures and religions have, for centuries, celebrated the sun. Although not directly coinciding with any harvesting, this time of year was seen as a time for good luck, especially for newly wed couples. Hence the plethora of June weddings to this day. And for our friends, who live in the cold Northern region of our blue planet, this is a time of awakening. With the sun staying in the sky all day, never fully dipping below the horizon, ice melts, plants bloom and everything appears to be alive once again.


I invite you to celebrate today and every day with a series of Sun Salutations. The Sanskrit/Hindu name for this energizing, heat building, breath synchronizing, sweat inducing set of poses at the beginning of class is known as Surya Namaskar. Almost every Hatha yoga tradition begins class with some variation of these 12 postures. The teacher always reminds us that it is to "warm up" the body, but as students we can't help but think it is a "form of torture" for eating too many cookies or drinking that extra glass of wine the night before. And even though, physically, Surya Namaskar is a way to warm up the spine and to begin the process of detoxifying the muscles and oxygenating the blood, I ask you to take a deeper look at this series of torture, I mean poses.

Traditionally, this series is done facing the sun, right at sun rise. It is a way to honor the sun for all that it provides: light, energy, life, warmth. With out the sun, humans, plants and animals, would not be here, living and thriving on this great blue ball. For the sun rises and sets, day in and day out, just like our breath rises and falls as we move through the series. On inhaling breaths, we are in the back bending poses, or as I like to refer to them, the heart opening poses. Opening ourselves to the potential of everything "good". On the exhaling breaths, we are in the forward bending poses, surrendering and letting go. And in the center of all this opening and surrendering, is Adho Mukha Svanasana, downward facing dog. That small, but bountiful break where we have the time to rest, regroup, and reconnect with the breath, the body and the mind; it is during this break that the sun salutation is inviting the heart to rest, is allowing the mind to refocus on the breath and is offering the body to feel open and to surrender from the stresses of the day.

So whether you're taking a class or staring at your empty mat at home, give yourself completely, physically, mentally and emotionally to the sun and honor it for all that it provides you. For without that great mass of gas in the sky, you wouldn't be pondering, doing sun salutations or drinking another glass of wine!

Here is a link I found with cute stick figures modeling each of the poses in the sun salutation. Take a look and then go salute the sun!

Peace for now :)

The Beginning

I was asked by a current yoga student if I would be interested in posting a blog. This request came because the school district I work for is shutting down this summer due to the CA statewide budgetary crisis.
At first, I was a little wary about doing something like this because...well, truthfully, it involves writing...writing my thoughts and then exposing them to the world. I have never been fond of my writing abilities, in fact if you want to put me into a high stress situation, just tell me I have to write.
Anyways, I am digressing a bit here. I have now been off work for two weeks and I have given this whole blog idea some serious thought. I mean why couldn't I write about yoga and my experiences with yoga, especially if so many others can do it. So here it is my blog page. I hope that all who visit will be able to find some interesting information as well as relate to my experiences of putting yoga to practice in the world and not just on the mat.

If you are here then you have noticed that my address is ahimsasanctuary.

Ahimsa is the first of the ten living principles. It is a sanskrit word for non-violence or non-harming. But it is more than just about not killing, it goes deeper than that, for when we practice compassion and kindness for ourselves, we will then be able to give compassion and kindness to others.

Sanctuary as defined by the Oxford Pocket American Dictionary of Current English:
1. A holy place. 2. a the holiest part of a temple, etc. b The part of the chancel containing the high altar. 3. a place of refuge for birds, wild animals, etc. 4. a place of refuge. 5. a immunity from arrest. b the right to offer this. 6. hist a sacred place where a fugitive from the law or a debtor was secured by medieval church law against arrest or violence. take sanctuary resort to a place of refuge.

I have chosen this name because I would like this blog to be a refuge of compassion. For all who wander or stumble upon this blog, may you find a place to rest your weary eyes on content that will be, hopefully, uplifting, informative and at times, humorous.

Peace for now