For the Love of Yoga

One week

2012-01-31T08:18:00.000-05:00

Amazing how much can change in one week. In the past week I have...

Become a full-time business owner.
Applied to teach yoga at the YMCA.
Turned down another job to teach yoga at a gym (if you are interested, let me know).
Added new friends and acquaintances in the RI yoga community, and the Providence business community.
Finally had several home made meals within days or hours of each other.
Took long breaks, and a three day weekend because I wasn't feeling well and because I just wanted to.
Spent time dreaming about a 6-month mini retirement in the South Pacific, inspired by the 4-Hour Work Week.
Read Bossypants and almost peed my own pants (while in the Brown Bookstore... I really tried to keep it together for the sake of my studious neighbors).
Listened or participated in several telecasts and webinars to shape and grow my business.
Spent time with my two beautiful nieces who teach me how to think creatively about what to do with a 3 and 8 year old on a Thursday night.
Admired my handsome partner in crime and all of the amazing things he is doing in life.

I am sure there are more, but reflecting on a week gone by in which I felt like I didn't get much done just goes to show how much really happened. I have taken a step in faith, to live life fully and completely. Stepping into my own path has been in the works for a while, but man it is great when you finally get there. And I have only just gotten started...

Notes from a weekend with Rolf

2012-01-03T15:01:00.001-05:00

I am just settling in to my newly organized office space, aka my bedroom with a desk in it. After many months of dreaming, planning, organizing, I am embarking on a magnificent entrepreneurial journey inspired by yoga, supported by authors and entrepreneurs like Blake Mycoskie and Tim Ferriss, and truly infused by my practice and those that I learn from. I regularly take am yoga classes with Shannah Green at Eyes of the World. A wonderful way to maintain learning and zest for my practice. This weekend was an exquisite intensive drop-in with a leader and teacher, Rolf Gates. His ability to inspire personal transformation is something I aspire to, and his compassionate wisdom is what brought me strongly in to the new year. A few thoughts from my workshop this past weekend...

"We must cultivate and hold with a steady effort the vision we have for ourselves." -Rolf Gates and Katrina Kenison, Meditations from the Mat

Yoga is deadly simple. It brings us from misunderstanding, to understanding.

Consider seeing life beyond dualism. Am I drawing a line here in thin air? And then placing myself and others above or below it?

Live skillfully. Thoughts are actions. Take responsibility.

Release stuck energy in the body, release the mind.

Intention organizes its own fulfillment. Have faith and courage in the process as your intention manifests.

I want to lead, coach, and advise others to live a full, thriving life through yoga. To be effortless in devotion, practice, and mindfulness. Step fully into my purpose.

"Like a trapeze artist, you must be willing to let go of one ring before you catch the next one." -Rolf Gates, Faith and Flow: A Vinyasa Yoga Intensive, Kripalu Center, January 1, 2012

Jali Day

2011-12-03T19:39:00.000-05:00

Met an awesome yoga teacher in training today! Check out his musings at Lee's Mat.

Yoga for MS

2011-08-21T13:43:00.002-04:00

One of my very good friends inspired me to do a little research on yoga for MS. I found a few helpful links. I believe in yoga as a tool for anyone. It can ease your depression, anxiety, or irritability. It can calm and center your mind. It can strengthen your body and your heart. It brings peace into a tumultuous world. But I think it can also bring ease, when used strategically, to certain chronic ails. There are yoga programs for everything you can imagine... cancer, stress, post-traumatic stress disorder, kids, etc. And there is also yoga for MS. Here are few places to start exploring. Namaste.

Yoga Journal Article on Yoga for MS

Eric Small's Website (yoga teacher who also has MS)

MS Chapter for Greater New England Yoga Listing

In health and happiness to those beloved people in my life that struggle with Multiple Sclerosis.

Jaan Yoga is Born!

2011-08-05T15:07:00.003-04:00

Just a few short weeks after being certified I have created Jaan Yoga Studios. Currently, I am a sole proprietor and will be offering group yoga classes at Brandeis University in Waltham, MA and Jen McWalters Studio in Pawtucket, RI. I also have availability for private yoga with individuals, couples, or families. Look for more information and updates on the new Jaan Yoga Facebook page. You will find a link on the right side of your screen. There you can check out photos from my yoga teacher training and from Jaan Yoga's first class on Great Pond in Maine.

Namaste

Right on time

2011-07-17T10:52:00.001-04:00

So much for keeping up with my blog during my five weeks at Discovery...but I have learned to not be so critical of my self during the past four weeks. Things happen all in right time. So, as I embark on my fifth and final week here in St. Augustine, I find myself reflecting on all of the wonderful things that have transpired over such a short period of time. Great yoga, wonderful friends, amazing memories, serious personal and emotional transformation, and of course, in four short days I will be a certified yoga teacher.

As a yogini I hope to share what yoga has taught me, by creating space for yoga as a tool for personal healing, transformation, and health. I want to be a guide and mentor in this process, rather than someone who simply directs others, to allow for each individuals personal exploration.

Check out my latest tagged photos on Facebook to see some of my experience here and my practice teaching!

Namaste.

Discovery Yoga

2011-05-31T21:15:00.001-04:00

The past few months presented themselves with some drastic changes in my life. This has created a big, long pause in my blogging... in yoga speak, a long out breath. Sigh.

But, now I am back! And ready to pursue my yoga teacher training. I have decided to do my training with Deva Parnell at Discovery Yoga in St. Augustine, FL. This was after much research of styles of yoga, teacher trainings, and endless hours online. I also found a program in Bali that was really exciting, but totally unrealistic for me financially. Deva offers a program that has been perfected over many years, in a small group of students. At the end of April I went to meet Deva and take class with her. This visit confirmed it! Then I tackled other parts of my life that needed to fall together to make this happen.

I am excited to embark on this journey, beginning June 19th, 2011. Thank you to the friends and family who have supported me through this process, because it was quite a lengthy and emotionally involved process! I will keep the blog updated through my five weeks at Discovery Yoga!

The Bees Knees

2010-11-28T15:47:00.001-05:00

Knees and yoga can be found as a conflicting topic. Recently I strained my knee, or should I say what I am guessing is the tendons and ligaments above my knee. Poses that put pressure on this area, such as low and deep lunges and simultaneous quad stretches, can create tension, but when used sensitively with correct knee alignment can create further flexibility and increase knee health. The thin line between flexibility and strain is easy to cross and that is exactly what I did about two weeks ago. In addition, after sitting for a long length of time, the ligaments and tendons under my knee cap sometimes experience shooting pain when I resume placing pressure on my leg by walking down stairs. This typically happens to me in movie theaters after sitting for over an hour and a half, then immediately having to walk down stairs. In an effort to learn more about my issues research led me to the following:

Knee Deep in Yoga

Strengthen Your Knees With Yoga

On Your Knees

Shoulder challenged

2010-11-12T20:23:00.000-05:00

When you have limited range of motion in one or both shoulders, certain asanas become difficult. This is especially noticeable during binds. This week in class I spoke with Ben about my limited range of motion in my right shoulder. The muscle layers under and around my shoulder blade are extremely tight and tense. His advice for releasing this was by utilizing a long tubular exercise tool that I can roll the under arm area on releasing tension in the right side of the shoulder blade. In addition, specific deep tissue massage can be useful in addressing this type of muscle tension. Ben did emphasize that this particular muscular challenge will be a long, slow process.

During this same class time we practice ujjayi breathing technique which is a pranayama technique used during asana practice. I learned more about this technique that I have now practiced many times. Ujjayi is a diaphragmatic breath, which first fills the lower belly (activating the first and second chakras), rises to the lower rib cage (the third and fourth chakras), and finally moves into the upper chest and throat. A balancing and calming breath, it also increases internal body heat. It also increase circulation of prana in the body.

Prana, vital life in sanskrit, it enters the body through the breath and is sent to every cell in the circulatory system. Yoga and prana activate the parasympathetic nervous system in the body creating a more healthy, balanced self. Prana is also known as chi in Chinese culture.

Anusara yoga at Underground Studios

2010-10-31T13:16:00.000-04:00

I just got home from a wonderful morning yoga class with Andrea Fotopoulos at Underground Studios in Watertown, MA. Andrea is an anusara style teacher and this was my first foray into a wonderful practice focused on the alignment of each aspect of my physical body. Yesterday, I took my first class at Underground with Ben McLellan, the owner and hath a yoga teacher. So far both of my experiences have been grounded in a strong foundation of traditional yoga... Not just moving through asanas, but grounding it in the spiritual practice of yoga through breath work, meditation, and mantras. Recently I have started to seriously pursue research about yoga teacher training. Being in the Boston has really helped me to understand various styles of yoga and to deepen my personal practice. It is truly a privilege to
Be in an urban area with so many wonderful studios and teachers. Prior to joining Underground through an awesome Living Social deal, I was trying out Baptiste yoga... Which I also found a deal through Group On. This new found way of trying yoga has suited me well for the past few months, as yoga can get pretty pricey.

Baptiste is a specific style of Power Vinyasa Yoga. The baptiste studios in Brookline and Cambridge are usually packed with practitioners, streaming into a room so hot the steam rolls down the windows. I truly enjoyed the feeling that Baptiste left me with. Over the course of days after practicing Baptiste two days in a row, I felt truly grounded and centered. What does those words mean anyways.... Let's just say, I wasn't scattered, emotional, irritable, frustrated, or anxiety ridden. This is some of what yoga should definitely offer you following practice. My boyfriend went to Bikram yesterday while I was in Hatha.

DID THEY KNOW

2007-04-27T12:31:00.000-04:00

A student just sent this to my email, it raises questions I myself have raised. And reminded me of my dear Rwandan friend, Claudine.

Did They Know

Did they know that there

actions would be studied

world round years later?

Were they aware that every

morning noon and night their

actions were to be taken notice

by the whole world?

That their actions would change world history?

How did they feel at that time?

How did their thoughts make them feel and what

motivated them more,

the feelings derived from being a mass killer

or what it felt like to continue?

The feelings the thoughts gave them

or the thoughts the feelings gave them?

Were they killing for the

cathartic release of insanity

or because their thoughts seemed so correct

their thoughts seemed so logical

that it felt good to kill?

What was it like to participate in the Rwandan genocide?

What was it like to look at the lists of names

and give death commands and

to receive death commands?

Was there ever a moment when

just the sound of the words in the air

seemed out of place during the 100 days?

What was the pathology;

a desire of unity;

seeking the truth;

or metaphysical emancipation?

They were trying to start something or they were trying to end it.

Did they know that they had

dove fully into insanity

and they could not get out; were

they just saving their own skin;

or did they love it and were

consumed by the anger?

We need to consider this to prevent it from happening again.

Can you hear me now?

Amazing talent!

2007-04-15T15:15:00.000-04:00

A little wisdom

2007-03-08T10:34:00.000-05:00

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate; our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you NOT to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us, it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.  Nelson Mandela, 1994

My first blog...

2007-03-01T15:08:00.000-05:00

I started this blog in 2007 as part of a Management of Information Technology course at the School for International Training. I have deleted most of my original posts about the course, but wanted to keep this first post in the archives. The only thing I am currently adding to the list is being a yoga teacher, all the rest still apply. And hey, I am even doing some of them now.

So it only took me a few days after class to get here! But finally here I am...I have 4 email accounts to check on a daily basis, so I have to add this to the list! I should probably make this first, as it is required. Anyway, I believe I am supposed to bare my soul about my deepest wishes for my professional career. I have so many things that I want to do, I hope that I can fulfill most of my dreams within a life time. I think it is totally possible! Some things I have already checked off the list. I am just going to list them off in no particular order, just keep in mind the list could change on a daily basis, adding things mostly, sometimes deleting. Here goes:

-Change the world! (Or atleast some part of it, affect large scale change.) Haha, so idealistic!
-Be a part of the field of social responsibility!
-Be a manager, executive of a non-profit or socially responsible business.
-Start an online fair trade gallery of international art.
-Open a physical space to continue this work, along with a fair trade, organic, local cafe.
-Be someone that advocates for policy change, through a business or organization.
-Create public-private partnerships.
-Be involved with youth, high school and college level, in some way. Inspire poor rural students to pave the way for themselves...like I did! Let them know that although it is hard work, you can make it somewhere bigger and support yourself while doing it.
-Master's of Fine Art.
-Doctorate, maybe in Applied Anthropology...
-Teach college courses.
-Write a book...I have thought about a family memoir of the struggles that my grandmother, mother, aunt's, etc. encountered, something completely different!
-?
-After I do all of these things, and save lots of money I want to travel around and volunteer and be philanthropic...maybe the Peace Corp, when I am 50!

That is all for now in the professional sphere! Next will be my specific goals for this class...shorter list, no less interesting.