In August 2019 I made a big life change, from full-time yogi in Phoenix, AZ (yoga instructor, student, and studio manager) to a full-time middle school English teacher in Istanbul, Turkey. Before becoming a full-time yogi, I had been a casual off-and-on practitioner for almost 20-years. Just before my big move, my practice was at its best. I had been living, breathing, studying, teaching, and practicing yoga daily for almost 2 years. I desperately wanted to commit to keeping yoga an important part of my life even though I knew I wouldn’t have the same community or time to dedicate to it.
I immediately loved being back in Istanbul (I had lived here before) and worked hard for the first few months to keep a regular 3x a week asana practice going. The pace of life in Istanbul is hectic and chaotic and my yoga practice calmed and grounded me. I even found a small place to teach yoga classes that fall. By winter, I was just trying to keep a personal weekend morning practice going along with my occasional teaching. And then covid hit and the world stopped and yoga eventually stopped for me as well. Despite having so much more time at home to practice along with having instructors from all over the world starting to share amazing online content, I was struggling to find motivation at all. I regained a strong home asana practice again for about 2-months during the summer of 2020, but after that my physical practice fell away again. I found myself telling people frequently “I haven’t been doing yoga.” It was said as an admission of guilt. Like how you tell people you haven’t been exercising. Or you have been eating a lot of junk food. Or you haven’t called your grandmother to check on her for awhile. And I felt bad about myself. It felt bad to think that something that I had been so passionate about…something that defined who I was…had fallen away. In January 2021, I made a resolution to start some new healthy habits (more on this later). One of the healthy habits I started was a short morning meditation. Just 5-minutes. I wanted to try to set aside just 5-minutes each morning to sit and breath and clear my head before beginning the day. I told myself that even if I wasn’t ‘doing yoga’, I could at least just sit for 5-minutes, couldn’t I? Of course, it was during one of these 5-minute meditations, that I realized -- I need to stop saying “I haven’t been doing yoga.” How had I lost sight of the fact that yoga is so much more than just a physical asana practice? How had I not realized that I had been doing yoga every day throughout the pandemic? Being kind to myself and others during stressful times. Ahimsa. Staying positive and being grateful for small things. Santosha. Being okay with not knowing what will happen and not being in control. Aparigraha. How had I forgotten that yoga isn’t just something I do, it is a way of being. It’s almost like someone saying they aren’t Christian because they haven’t been going to church. Yes, the physical asana practice is important and yes I do want to have that back in my life, but it is just one of the eight branches of yoga. It simply took 5-minutes of pranayama (another branch of yoga) to realize that I’ve been doing yoga all along.
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"It was a blessing in a shitty package." I love this phrase and I love this woman's story of finally finding the time in her life to care for herself.
I think we can all relate to this shitty package analogy. It's waaay better than the "every cloud has a silver lining" saying because in reality you have to get through the all the shit of what's happening around you and to you ...in order to get to the real you. Yoga gives us tools to do to this. Yoga helps us let go of all of the oustide stuff and connect to what's important inside. I love that I get to share the benefits of yoga with others!
Scientific studies have shown that the brain doesn't really know the difference between actually doing or experiencing something in real life vs. just imagining or visualizing it. The effect on the brain and the brain's response is the same. Read that again and recognize how powerful this information can be. This is why, when sitting comfortably in your home - just thinking of something that worries you can create a very physical response. Your heart beats faster, your mind races, your palms get sweaty. Although you are not actually experiencing a stressful situation, your brain (and body) don't acknowledge the difference. On the flip side, this is why professional athletes are coached to visualize their games and why physical therapy patients are encouraged to visualize the full use of limbs that are in recovery. Powerful visualization can lead to actual physical results. It can be hard to truly connect with this information until you have the opportunity to experience it for yourself. I recently did have a personal experience... which is why this greeting card now hangs on my refrigerator and why I am sharing this post. In one of my yoga teacher training classes last month, I was led through a guided visualization. I had no idea what to expect, so I just let myself imagine whatever came to my mind based on the teacher's prompts. At the end of 30 minutes I had completely transformed my emotional response to a struggle I had been having. It no longer seemed like a struggle and a great weight was lifted. Ultimately, it feels so empowering to know that I did that for myself. To have this feeling that I can change my life (or my RESPONSE to life...which is kinda the same thing) simply based on what I think is amazing. Learn more about neurosculpting guided visualization here: https://neurosculptinginstitute.com/what-is-neurosculpting/ "Working on it" Wednesday: Becoming more like Michelle Today I got to hear Michelle Obama speak at the BOLD Mindbody conference in San Diego, CA!! It was actually the second time I’ve seen her. The first time I saw her was at the Kids’ Inaugural Ball in Washington DC during the 2009 Presidential Inauguration. At that time, I had no idea what an inspiration she would become to me. After moving back to the states from Istanbul in 2016, I landed in a challenging classroom. It was a difficult time for me personally and professionally. I felt like a complete failure as a teacher as my students became less engaged in learning every day. I knew I had to turn the tides in my classroom, but I didn't know how. Over the semester break, I searched for something to inspire me to rise to the occasion. I needed something to remind me of my purpose and something that could inspire my students to make a positive change for the rest of the school year. I saw this video and cried. It was exactly what I needed to hear at that time and became my guiding light.
RISE to your best possible self. |
"Working on it" Wednesday: Consistency |
I am good at change. I like new things. I can adapt easily and quickly make new plans when needed.
What I'm not always great at is keeping up routines.
Part of it is psychological...cuz just the word 'routine' itself sounds so...boring; and part of it is discipline...cuz it's hard to do something every day when there are so many other things that can get in the way.
So what I'm working on this week (I should probably say month instead) is consistency: making sure I consistently set aside the time for my own yoga practice.
Even as a yoga teacher, it's sometimes hard for me to keep a consistent practice. While I may teach 4-6 times each week, (so it seems like I'm doing a lot of yoga) it doesn't always mean I'm also taking 4-6 additional yoga classes for myself each week. In fact, I'm seeing an inverse teaching: practice ratio. The more I teach, the less I practice.
The Habit Loop
I was reading about the 3 Rs of a habit loop: Reminder, Routine, Reward
1) Reminder/Cue - a trigger or event that causes you to take action
2) Routine - the Action/Reaction taken in response to the reminder/cue
3) Reward - the Results of the actions you chose
When the reward is positive, it motivates you to take the same action again.
I was reading about the 3 Rs of a habit loop: Reminder, Routine, Reward
1) Reminder/Cue - a trigger or event that causes you to take action
2) Routine - the Action/Reaction taken in response to the reminder/cue
3) Reward - the Results of the actions you chose
When the reward is positive, it motivates you to take the same action again.
Oh, and if you have a bad habit...like enjoying too many popsicles...you can use this Habit Loop to change out a bad habit for good habit that also gives you a positive reward.
Interesting stuff. Except that it makes me feel like one of Pavlov's dogs. Or this mouse.
I want to develop healthy habits and routines that don't make me feel like I'm a rat running in circles on a wheel chasing cheese.
And then I saw this quote: LIVE LESS OUT OF HABIT AND MORE OUT OF INTENT.
Marla Tabaka wrote an article for Inc. that contrasts Goal Setting vs. Intention setting. Although she is writing for an audience of entrepreneurs rather than yogis, and talking about goal setting rather than routine making, I think the point is still made in this excerpt below:
And then I saw this quote: LIVE LESS OUT OF HABIT AND MORE OUT OF INTENT.
Marla Tabaka wrote an article for Inc. that contrasts Goal Setting vs. Intention setting. Although she is writing for an audience of entrepreneurs rather than yogis, and talking about goal setting rather than routine making, I think the point is still made in this excerpt below:
Read the full article here.
Maybe its just semantics, but I think I this could be my key to finding consistency. What if I'm already the happy face at the end of the Habit Loop, and my actions (daily routines) aren't what determine whether or not I have happy face but instead my actions are the RESULT of my of my happy face?
...maybe it's not a loop at all, but something more radiant like this.
The Intention Setting Trajectory
1) Identify your values / what REWARDS you intrinsically so that you have that happy face?
2) Set your (daily) intention / how do you want to personally embody your values (today) and how you want to share your values with the world (today)?
3) Action / go and do what you are inspired to do...which will ultimately make you more happy
...maybe it's not a loop at all, but something more radiant like this.
The Intention Setting Trajectory
1) Identify your values / what REWARDS you intrinsically so that you have that happy face?
2) Set your (daily) intention / how do you want to personally embody your values (today) and how you want to share your values with the world (today)?
3) Action / go and do what you are inspired to do...which will ultimately make you more happy
The intention setting trajectory gives me freedom from "reacting" to cues and from "chasing" rewards. The intention setting trajectory inspires me to stay consistent in my yoga practice by forcing me to first determine what I value about it. Do I value consistency for the sake of its discipline? Or do I value physical strength and flexibility? Or is it a calm and focused mind that matters most?
I want my consistent practice to be a reflection of my existing values, not simply an action I take in order to reach a goal.
I want my consistent practice to be a reflection of my existing values, not simply an action I take in order to reach a goal.
We call it a yoga “practice,”… but what are we practicing for? We practice an instrument to perform in a concert. We practice swinging a bat to hit a home run in the next game. But in yoga, what am I practicing for? I’m not training for a yoga competition. No one is going to judge my pose and compare my best effort to the person next to me. There’s no trophy or accolades to earn.
I’ve learned that my practice isn’t to prepare me for some big event in the future. Rather, my yoga practice prepares me for…now. Yoga teaches me how to be my best self each day. The lessons and skills I develop on my yoga mat help guide my life off of the mat.
Lesson One: Showing up
They say the hardest pose is rolling out your mat. Just showing up for anything in life is half the battle. Showing up consistently well, then, the battle is almost won. In yoga, this lesson is quickly learned. After just a couple weeks of consistent practice, not only do I feel stronger and more flexible, I can physically see and measure a change in my body. I can stretch farther and hold longer.
Showing up consistently is just as important in other areas of life. Unfortunately in real life, we can’t always physically see our progress and we don’t always reap the benefits as quickly, so it’s easier to give up. But I know that what is true in my yoga practice is true in life. I try to recognize and act upon all the ways that just showing up consistently for something can help me. Showing up for work consistently has obvious benefits. But how else can I apply this lesson? Am I showing up for the people I value in my life? How can doing this enhance my relationships? Am I consistently showing up for new opportunities when they present themselves? What could I create for myself if I do? Yoga is teaching me the importance of investing time and energy into the things and the people I love.
Lesson Two: Patience & Non-attachment
One of the yamas (a moral guideline) in yoga is Aparigraha, which is the practice of non-greediness or non-attachment. Every yogi probably has a pose that they are working on…but the real goal is not to be attached to the attainment of that pose. If your end goal is solely putting your body into a physical position, then you’ve missed the point of yoga entirely. Nothing happens on a prescribed time table…or at least not on the time table we would prescribe for ourselves. I know that showing up consistently to yoga gets me closer to (fill in the blank): <doing a handstand> / <binding in ardha baddha podmottansasna> / <coming into full splits while levitating and reciting the yoga sutras (in Sanskrit)> …but WHEN these things will happen, I can’t know. I can only breathe and practice patience. Trying to push or pull myself into a position that my body isn’t ready for only results in negative self-talk and an injury. Yoga challenges me to focus on my own actions (my consistent practice) and let go of any attachment I have to the end results of my actions.
I know what is true in my yoga practice is true in real life. In the same way that forcing a pose leads to injury, trying to force someone else to think or act a certain way will only injure the relationship. Learning to practice patience with myself and with others, and learning to not be attached to outcomes easier said than done. I had a friend who used to get very upset if someone didn’t thank her for holding open a door. She would grumble and complain about how rude the other person was. I agreed with her, that it was rude, but I would also ask her, “Are you holding the door open for them because you want to do something kind, or are you holding the door open because you want them to say thank you?” It’s difficult not to be attached to the outcomes of our actions. We tell ourselves, “if I am nice to this person, they will be nice to me” or “if I work hard, I will get a raise”…and when things don’t work out that way we think they should, we are naturally upset, angry, and disappointed. Instead I try to focus doing things because I want to do them instead of doing things solely for some hoped-for outcome that may or may not happen. Yoga is teaching me to let things happen in due time and to not be overly attached to outcomes out of my control.
Lesson Three: Bouncing-back from failure
Everyone has fallen out of a pose – whether it’s just putting a foot or hand down to catch yourself, or actually falling over onto the floor – no one is immune to being caught off balance at some point in time. You fall and you come back. Sometimes multiple times in a class. Sometimes multiple times in one pose. It’s normal and is acceptable as part of the learning process. Most of us fall out of a pose, brush it off in a second, and try the pose again without any negative thoughts about our innate abilities and without any long-term bruise to our egos. We quickly realize that the class didn’t come to a screeching halt when we fell, no one laughed, and in fact, everyone else in the room is just working on overcoming their own challenges.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could treat our failures in life off the mat the same way? No big deal. The world didn’t end. No harsh judgements about our ability to be loved, happy, or successful. I don’t think anyone ever did a handstand without failing at it first. So, whatever it is you want in life, you can’t get it if you don’t go after it and you can’t get it if you’re not willing to fail and try again and again. Yoga is teaching me that it’s okay to try new things and to fail, as long as I get back up and try again.
I practice yoga as often as I can...not to attain something great in the future, but because it greatly benefits my life in the now. Above all else, yoga is teaching me to let the journey itself be the destination.
I’ve learned that my practice isn’t to prepare me for some big event in the future. Rather, my yoga practice prepares me for…now. Yoga teaches me how to be my best self each day. The lessons and skills I develop on my yoga mat help guide my life off of the mat.
Lesson One: Showing up
They say the hardest pose is rolling out your mat. Just showing up for anything in life is half the battle. Showing up consistently well, then, the battle is almost won. In yoga, this lesson is quickly learned. After just a couple weeks of consistent practice, not only do I feel stronger and more flexible, I can physically see and measure a change in my body. I can stretch farther and hold longer.
Showing up consistently is just as important in other areas of life. Unfortunately in real life, we can’t always physically see our progress and we don’t always reap the benefits as quickly, so it’s easier to give up. But I know that what is true in my yoga practice is true in life. I try to recognize and act upon all the ways that just showing up consistently for something can help me. Showing up for work consistently has obvious benefits. But how else can I apply this lesson? Am I showing up for the people I value in my life? How can doing this enhance my relationships? Am I consistently showing up for new opportunities when they present themselves? What could I create for myself if I do? Yoga is teaching me the importance of investing time and energy into the things and the people I love.
Lesson Two: Patience & Non-attachment
One of the yamas (a moral guideline) in yoga is Aparigraha, which is the practice of non-greediness or non-attachment. Every yogi probably has a pose that they are working on…but the real goal is not to be attached to the attainment of that pose. If your end goal is solely putting your body into a physical position, then you’ve missed the point of yoga entirely. Nothing happens on a prescribed time table…or at least not on the time table we would prescribe for ourselves. I know that showing up consistently to yoga gets me closer to (fill in the blank): <doing a handstand> / <binding in ardha baddha podmottansasna> / <coming into full splits while levitating and reciting the yoga sutras (in Sanskrit)> …but WHEN these things will happen, I can’t know. I can only breathe and practice patience. Trying to push or pull myself into a position that my body isn’t ready for only results in negative self-talk and an injury. Yoga challenges me to focus on my own actions (my consistent practice) and let go of any attachment I have to the end results of my actions.
I know what is true in my yoga practice is true in real life. In the same way that forcing a pose leads to injury, trying to force someone else to think or act a certain way will only injure the relationship. Learning to practice patience with myself and with others, and learning to not be attached to outcomes easier said than done. I had a friend who used to get very upset if someone didn’t thank her for holding open a door. She would grumble and complain about how rude the other person was. I agreed with her, that it was rude, but I would also ask her, “Are you holding the door open for them because you want to do something kind, or are you holding the door open because you want them to say thank you?” It’s difficult not to be attached to the outcomes of our actions. We tell ourselves, “if I am nice to this person, they will be nice to me” or “if I work hard, I will get a raise”…and when things don’t work out that way we think they should, we are naturally upset, angry, and disappointed. Instead I try to focus doing things because I want to do them instead of doing things solely for some hoped-for outcome that may or may not happen. Yoga is teaching me to let things happen in due time and to not be overly attached to outcomes out of my control.
Lesson Three: Bouncing-back from failure
Everyone has fallen out of a pose – whether it’s just putting a foot or hand down to catch yourself, or actually falling over onto the floor – no one is immune to being caught off balance at some point in time. You fall and you come back. Sometimes multiple times in a class. Sometimes multiple times in one pose. It’s normal and is acceptable as part of the learning process. Most of us fall out of a pose, brush it off in a second, and try the pose again without any negative thoughts about our innate abilities and without any long-term bruise to our egos. We quickly realize that the class didn’t come to a screeching halt when we fell, no one laughed, and in fact, everyone else in the room is just working on overcoming their own challenges.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could treat our failures in life off the mat the same way? No big deal. The world didn’t end. No harsh judgements about our ability to be loved, happy, or successful. I don’t think anyone ever did a handstand without failing at it first. So, whatever it is you want in life, you can’t get it if you don’t go after it and you can’t get it if you’re not willing to fail and try again and again. Yoga is teaching me that it’s okay to try new things and to fail, as long as I get back up and try again.
I practice yoga as often as I can...not to attain something great in the future, but because it greatly benefits my life in the now. Above all else, yoga is teaching me to let the journey itself be the destination.
There are so many styles of yoga to love. So why choose Vinyasa? To me, the Vinyasa style is almost like dancing by myself when no one is looking. I love that freeing feeling of moving my body for myself, by myself. Obviously in a yoga class I’m not exactly “by myself” but it doesn’t take long to get into your own flow and realize that no one else is there to watch you…they’re doing their own internal dance as well!
Although every class is a little different, what makes a yoga class a Vinyasa class is the one-breath to one-movement flow. When you are able to focus your mind on your breath, it becomes an active moving meditation.
Before I took my first yoga class in my 20s, I had this preconceived notion that yoga was slow and boring and for old people. The class I walked into was a Vinyasa Power Flow that changed my perception of yoga forever. I kissed my gym membership goodbye when I realized that yoga could be just as physically challenging and more fun. Slowly, my body started changing. I noticed muscle definition in parts of my body that I hadn’t seen before, I didn’t get winded carrying groceries up the stairs to my apartment, and I was finally able to do all of the chatturangas in the 90-minute class! As the physical changes were happening, I also noticed changes in other areas of my life that I wasn’t expecting. I wasn’t as angry when something didn’t go my way, I felt calmer and more patient with myself and with others, and I started appreciating the small things in life. I literally caught myself stopping to smell flowers one day while walking home from class.
Like many others, I was first attracted to yoga for the physical benefits but I’ve stayed with yoga for the mental and spiritual aspects. If I’m being honest, there’s no way I’m going to a yoga class and then also going to the gym afterwards, so it’s important to me that my yoga is also my workout for the day. I like that Vinyasa yoga gives me a nice balance of the physical, mental, and spiritual. It’s like hitting the yoga jackpot…or to make another analogy…it’s like going on a blind date with a male model, and then finding out he’s also intelligent and loves kittens! Yoga and kittens for the win!
Yoga has been a part of my life (intermittently) for over 18 years. It has always been a home base for me. Whenever I’ve felt like I needed to reset my life, I would start by finding a yoga studio. No matter how long I’d been away or what city I was in, yoga has always been there for me when I’m ready to show up. When my breath, mind, and body are aligned, it becomes easier to tackle everything else in life. When I look at the ebb and flow of my life, the periods that I’m doing yoga regularly are my most creative, my most productive, and my most joyful. My goal now is to keep my practice consistent so that I never have to “go back” to yoga.
As I’ve matured, my yoga interests and needs have also matured. The beautiful thing about Vinyasa yoga is that it adapts and matures with me. It’s my personal dance that can be as fast or slow, as powerful or light, as sweaty or relaxing as I want it to be. The instructors in the classroom are my guides, but I follow my own breath and listen to what my body needs each day. And some days, my body says it wants to do that nice and slow yoga for old people, which isn’t really that boring after all.
Although every class is a little different, what makes a yoga class a Vinyasa class is the one-breath to one-movement flow. When you are able to focus your mind on your breath, it becomes an active moving meditation.
Before I took my first yoga class in my 20s, I had this preconceived notion that yoga was slow and boring and for old people. The class I walked into was a Vinyasa Power Flow that changed my perception of yoga forever. I kissed my gym membership goodbye when I realized that yoga could be just as physically challenging and more fun. Slowly, my body started changing. I noticed muscle definition in parts of my body that I hadn’t seen before, I didn’t get winded carrying groceries up the stairs to my apartment, and I was finally able to do all of the chatturangas in the 90-minute class! As the physical changes were happening, I also noticed changes in other areas of my life that I wasn’t expecting. I wasn’t as angry when something didn’t go my way, I felt calmer and more patient with myself and with others, and I started appreciating the small things in life. I literally caught myself stopping to smell flowers one day while walking home from class.
Like many others, I was first attracted to yoga for the physical benefits but I’ve stayed with yoga for the mental and spiritual aspects. If I’m being honest, there’s no way I’m going to a yoga class and then also going to the gym afterwards, so it’s important to me that my yoga is also my workout for the day. I like that Vinyasa yoga gives me a nice balance of the physical, mental, and spiritual. It’s like hitting the yoga jackpot…or to make another analogy…it’s like going on a blind date with a male model, and then finding out he’s also intelligent and loves kittens! Yoga and kittens for the win!
Yoga has been a part of my life (intermittently) for over 18 years. It has always been a home base for me. Whenever I’ve felt like I needed to reset my life, I would start by finding a yoga studio. No matter how long I’d been away or what city I was in, yoga has always been there for me when I’m ready to show up. When my breath, mind, and body are aligned, it becomes easier to tackle everything else in life. When I look at the ebb and flow of my life, the periods that I’m doing yoga regularly are my most creative, my most productive, and my most joyful. My goal now is to keep my practice consistent so that I never have to “go back” to yoga.
As I’ve matured, my yoga interests and needs have also matured. The beautiful thing about Vinyasa yoga is that it adapts and matures with me. It’s my personal dance that can be as fast or slow, as powerful or light, as sweaty or relaxing as I want it to be. The instructors in the classroom are my guides, but I follow my own breath and listen to what my body needs each day. And some days, my body says it wants to do that nice and slow yoga for old people, which isn’t really that boring after all.
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