About
you. Love yoga or getting up the courage to give it a try? Here are a few things about
yoga that may surprise even more experienced yogis. A yoga class can leave you in a good mood, feeling more connected
with others, calmer, more at ease in your body. You may notice that your digestion is better and that you sleep well
that night. Most yoga practitioners report these things, which is why they keep coming back for more.
What is happening within your body/mind during and after a yoga class is quite complex and wonderful. In essence,
you are deliberately cultivating 'prana' or the life force within you through a series of postures and/or posture
flows. At a biochemical level, you are affecting your own chemistry in a positive way. So although hatha yoga
(the postures) is often touted as a way to become more flexible, strong and toned -- and a regular practice can do that --
it is working on a much more subtle and powerful level.
As yogi master B.K.S. Iyengar puts it, "Yoga
must be experienced." If you're new to yoga, ask around your neighborhood for leads to a Yoga-Alliance certified
yoga teacher (like me). Get yourself a mat at least 1/4" thick, a comfortable pair of shorts or tights and t-shirt.
More important than these is the desire to explore something new and the willingness to be a beginner, as we all are at something
every single day of our lives.
About me. Like a lot of people, I sampled
yoga in the 1970s when it first became better known in the West. For a variety of reasons, it didn't take, but I
got another chance in my early 50s when a Kripalu teacher began to offer classes near my home. I discovered how good
I felt after a class, physically, mentally and even in spirit. I began to notice that I was becoming more flexible,
and had fewer colds. Peri-menopause symptoms were more manageable. I was handling the challenges of my small business
as a public relations consultant and writer more calmly and creatively. In 1998, after I had been practicing Kripalu
yoga for three years, I decided I wanted to share this remarkable tool with others, so I took yoga teacher training at the
Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Lenox, Mass. I have been teaching it ever since.
About Kripalu Yoga.
Called 'meditation in motion,' Kripalu Yoga help you find your own yoga. You are always encouraged to practice at your own pace, respecting your strengths
and limitations, making this a very easy way to take yoga into your life. Practiced
regularly, it is nothing less than a revolutionary tool for more conscious, healthy living. I teach students short routines
they can practice on their own, upon waking, before bedtime, or whenever they have 10 or 15 minutes during the day.
I call it Gentle Plus.
You
can sample my group classes at Re-Flexions at Gold's Gym in Jupiter, FL, and Loggerhead Fitness in Juno Beach, or call for a private class with me in my home in Palm Beach Gardens. Phone: 561-625-8753
Students are often surprised by the instruction to notice, notice breath, notice
sensation, notice thoughts. But the act of noticing is more powerful than most of us imagine, even for people with a
mature spiritual practice of one sort or another. For me, noticing is a way of pausing, stepping back or out of the
stream of one thing following another that makes up life, and appreciating each moment as it happens.
When you notice your breath, you can get a good reading of your emotional state and,
by changing your breath, deepening and slowing it down, for example, you change your emotions. Try this the next time
you get angry or upset.
Noticing sensations in
the body is rewarding in and of itself because it helps you appreciate what an amazingly complex organism you are, how respiration,
digestion, the behavior of hormones, are happening simultaneously with no help from you. And with some practice in noticing,
you may also develop a refined sense of when something is not quite right, and address and possibly prevent it from developing
into a more obvious symptom.
Noticing thoughts is the
first step in learning how to disidentify with them, possibly the most important spiritual practice we humans can adopt.
In noticing how our minds work, what kinds of things come up all the time, we begin to free ourselves from conditioned and
habitual patterns of consciousness. We become calmer, certainly, but also more aware, clearer, creative, kinder, more
loving, and more in touch with our true self.
Yoga, says Patanjali, author of the yoga sutra, is to "still
the patterns of consciousness." All schools of meditation aim at the same goal. Noticing is a practice in
and of itself, and you don't need a meditation cushion or special place and time to do it. It's available right
now.
In August, my spouse and I were at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health
for a weekend. We've come to think of Kripalu as a spiritual home, a place where we can let it all hang out, do
lots of yoga with great teachers, learn some new practices, meditate, dance, and just be quiet together. But on that
weekend, we were in for a surprise, when in the middle of our own workshop on deep relaxation, we heard repeated peals of
infectious laughter from the next room.
Turns out
we were next door to a workshop on Laughter Yoga, a technique developed in 1995 by Dr. Madan Kataria and his wife, Madhuri
Kataria. The idea arose from an article written by Dr. Kataria on the health benefits of llaughgter. He started
the first Laughter Yoga Club in Mumbai, India. Although the first club disbanded, Dr. Kataria continued his research
and that simulated laughter provides the same benefits -- releasing chemicals that reduce stress and lower blood pressure
-- as spontaneous laughter. There are now 6,000
Laughter Yoga Clubs worldwide in 60 countries. Check out this You Tube video with John Cleese and see if you can keep a straight
face.
Shopping for some mala beads -- all the better to do Mantra Meditation -- I stumbled on YogaBasics and immediately signed up for the free membership and newsletter. High production values and
lots of free stuff, even at the Basic membership level. Particularly like the sequencing of postures accompanied by
photographs. Check it out and let me know what you think.
(BTW, I bought rosewood
malas, an 108 strand. Last night, I led a mantra meditation for the first time, and my Spiritual Circle loved it.
Some of us went somewhere we were not eager to return from. Hmmm.)
Occasionally, I'll focus on a particular posture here or steer you
to some information that will nourish your practice of yoga. Whenever possible, I'll include links so you can explore
resources more deeply. I think of my yoga teaching as a two-way conversation between me and my students, so feel free
to email me (marika@2young2retire.com) with questions or comments. As Rodgers and Hammerstein put is so well, "As
a teacher I've been learning..."
