Happy New Year!

This morning we welcomed and blessed the New Year with a long, delicious Yoga practice. We began with a gentle asana (physical pose) practice to warm and stretch the body. Then I covered a bit of background about the practice of chanting and using mala (prayer beads) in the Yoga tradition.

Traditionally, japa mala is the practice of reciting a mantra (word or sound repeated to aid in meditation) with prayer beads. This can be done silently or out loud. Mala usually have 108 beads, so the mantra or prayer is recited 108 times. The symbolism of the number 108 in the Buddhist and Yogic traditions is complex and deep. Today, I spoke about the Sun and the Moon, both of which are an average distance away from the Earth that equals 108 times their respective diameters.

This seems especially meaningful to me as I practice and teach Hatha Yoga. Hatha means "sun and moon", and one goal of our practice is to balance the sun and moon energy within our bodies, as well as to be in harmony with the heavens. Balance and harmony…these are goals anyone can get behind.

Today, we chanted Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu. This translates to "may all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may my life contribute to that goal". What better way to begin a new year than to raise the vibration of the entire world? All of the positive things that we desire for the new year - health, love, happiness, prosperity…all of these things can come to us if we become them.

I have found that the easiest way to become more positive is to serve others. Service shifts us away from the ego. It distracts us from our internal dialogue, that running commentary that so easily ensnares us in routine and old habits. Giving also allows us to receive more readily. It is by giving to others that we learn to let go and trust that we will be provided with all that we need.

But service has a final benefit that may trump all others - making others happy. Did you know that making other people happy can make you happier? And healthier? Yes, it's a thing. The intention and energy that goes into an invocational chant such as this one has its own power. It is a form of service.

As a group, we chanted this mantra the full 108 times. It was a thing of beauty, this group chant. Steady and strong, our voices filled the room. Afterwards, we took a few minutes of silent meditation. My head felt clear and utterly empty. It was filled with the buzzing of bees, a sensation of fullness and emptiness at the same time. The thoughts that generally fill my consciousness were absent. I experienced a state of bliss that is very difficult to put into words, but that I saw on the faces of the other participants.

Lastly, we practiced some restorative Yoga. I guided the participants through a meditation in which we released things we no longer need, envisioned our desires for 2015 and then soaked in a good long gratitude bath. It was powerful. We all emerged energized and relaxed. The tulips I'd put in water bloomed beautifully. I say they bloomed more than they should have in two hours. The combined power of determined yogis and yoginis is mighty!

This year, I choose to make my actions contribute to the happiness and freedom of all beings. Join me, maybe?

Anatomic Yoga: Precision Asana

I attended a workshop this weekend with a gentleman who wrote one of the textbooks in my Yoga teacher training. Ray Long, MD, is an orthopedic surgeon who practices Yoga. He’s taken his in depth knowledge of the human body from his Western medical background, studied cutting-edge research and applied advanced computer animations to figure out how Yoga works in the body, and how we can use anatomic principles to do Yoga more effectively.

His basic premise is that we analyze each pose to see what muscles are involved in creating the form. We then stretch and engage the primary muscles and their opponents to create a precise, correct embodiment of the pose. He integrates modern scientific stretching techniques to enhance the efficacy. I myself got my torso on my leg in Janu Sirsasana (seated forward fold with one leg extended and one bent), which hasn’t happened since my full-time martial arts days.

This type of approach, interestingly enough, is a big part of how I was trained to be a Yoga teacher. Two of the three teachers who created the training program I attended have a detail-oriented, practical and anatomical bent to their teaching. The other instructor came out of a very holistic school of Yoga. She has much of the same knowledge, but different languaging.

Sunny Davis, especially, is skilled in combining anatomy and biomechanics to building good alignment in Yoga poses. But because of her background as a international level fitness educator and former competitive cyclist, her knowledge base is rich enough to inform any type of movement. Sunny has an amazing ability to analyze all the different embodiments of a pose in even a large class, and her corrections are subtle and powerful.

She and I have co-taught a series of therapeutic classes that focus on each functional area of the body, starting from the ground up with the feet and lower legs. In each workshop, we teach anatomy, common problems, options for treatment and then we practice stretching and strengthening approaches that come from her and my broad array of disciplines. Sunny brings in the perspective of an athlete, fitness trainer and long-time therapeutically-focused Yoga and Pilates teacher, and I bring in my martial arts, subtle energy expertise, lifetime Yoga practice and clinical massage background. Together, we make a pretty potent team.

I garnered some excellent asana cues and subtle anatomical insights from Mr. Long this weekend. It’s going to add to my ongoing process of combining disciplines to better help my students and patients. It was also lovely to meet an MD who believes that energetic blockages are the root of most illness. More than anything, it confirmed that I’m headed in the right direction – true integrative medicine. I love the ancient and mystical aspects of Yoga, but I’m quite sure I would not be so effective at using it if I didn’t have so much training in anatomy, physiology and kinesiology.

Here’s a little scrap I wrote in my notes near the end of the workshop:

“Our job as Yoga teachers is not only to help increase overall strength and flexibility, but to counteract the effects of modern sedentary life, which is rife with such problems as: kyphosis of the upper back, lower back pain, flat feet, weak core musculature, weak shoulder girdle musculature, tight hip flexors and hamstrings, sacro-iliac instability, living in a constant state of stress and lack of embodiment.”

A mouthful, I know. This is my life – I work with people every day who have a preponderance of the above conditions. People are stressed, tired, out of shape in crucial areas and not aware of their bodies. That’s what I do in my massage practice, yoga therapy practice and yoga classes. I strive to get people back in their bodies, to build awareness of the body’s sensations and wisdom, calm the nervous system and then get to work on strengthening and stretching safely.

The more trainings I attend, the more I can see that knowledge is knowledge, no matter what the source. Most disciplines and traditions of healing and personal development have similar insights, though they have distinct systems of symbolism and language. My sensei once said “the moves are the moves are the moves”.

Very true.