The connection between breath and movement. The way through the challenging pose is to find ease within it, which for me means slowing down my breathing and connecting with my breath. Turns out that also works while running to catch up with the biking child.
Or Surya Namaskar A for the adults out there plus a few modifications for me in the transitions. My favorite beginner description of Surya Namaskar A is from Tara Judelle at yogaglo.
Namaste.
I love the teachings of Christ, but the universe is 15 billion years old and complicated beyond anything I can understand….I do not for a minute think that I’m right about anything. Maybe we die and go to heaven, and a guy with a long white beard sits in judgement of us, but I doubt it.
I have a feeling that the universe is more forgiving and loving than we have traditionally, culturally, given it credit for. If God ended up being petty and angry, it’d be so sad. If you are God and you understand how everything in the universe works, why would you judge these poor, stumbling, shortsighted humans who are just blindly trying to figure out how to stay alive from one day to the next?
While I was reading the September issue of Yoga Journal, I came across an article about Garth Stevenson’s new release, “Flying.” I had visited iTunes to listen to a few of the tracks when the kids appeared to listen along. My oldest let me know that several of the songs were his “favorite” and could we please see if we could buy them somewhere?
This sent us down several rabbit trails of exploration as we established a new playlist for our day. We’ve listened to this several times so far both as the kids play and as they have headed to bed. We’re listening to:
Krishna Das – “Devi Puja“
Falu & Gaurav Shah – “Shanti“
Kira Willey – “Namaste Song“
Richard Marlow & the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge – “Ave Maria, D.839“
Garth Stevenson – “Dark Red“
Yoga Music for Kids – “Bedtime Routine 1“
It’s a nice change for a week that’s been far too stressful. The three-year-old’s answer to everything is to cry and whine. The six-year-old needs to pick on the three-year old which only leads to more crying and whining. And the baby? She’s taken to biting, hitting, and pulling the hair of the three-year-old plus lying on the floor when she doesn’t get her way. Leading to…yes, you guessed it, more crying and whining. It’s like one big long tantrum from the moment they awaken until the moment they go to bed. I’m thinking a new soundtrack for our day fits the bill quite nicely.
Next up? A lesson in Namaste ala the “Namaste Song” by Kira Willey:
The light in me sees the light in you
The light in me sees the light in you
I honor you as you honor me
Namaste, Namaste, NamasteThe light in me sees the light in you
The light in me sees the light in you
I honor you as you honor me
Namaste, Namaste, Namaste
All while I repeat my mantra softly to myself, “Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.” I could use a little bit of the peace that passes understanding right now.
Out here in the outskirts of Madison…because as you know, Rock County is just part of Madison because all of the push back from Walker’s craziness is a “Madison thing”…getting to a yoga class can be a bit challenging.
If I actually lived in Madison, I would have no shortage of choices when it comes to Yoga classes. There’s even one studio that would take care of the whole childcare issue for me. But, at the very least, it would be more likely that I could find a class to fit my husband’s wonky schedule.
Ever since my favorite Yoga studio closed I have just about begged and pleaded with the local teachers to please do a Saturday morning class. One teacher tried, but it was short lived. The rest were less than easy to get a hold of.
Then, the other day while perusing websites of the few local studios, I discovered that there is in fact a Saturday morning class that just started this month. It almost makes up for the babysitter bailing on me for the only other class I was able to make with regularity.
I can assure you that my family is likely more thrilled about this than I am. I think they like me better when I get to class.
This will also be helpful during my last push to get lesson plans for First Grade (and Preschool for my “me too” child) squared away.
Recently at least.
Just because the hip opening poses give me very little difficult does not mean that I do not have issues with flexibility there. Focusing on just the inner hip flexors does not for balance make.
Back pain is not always about the muscles in your back. See the above paragraph. This is especially true for my flavor of back pain which does not radiate up or down, but which simply spreads out across my lower back. You wouldn’t believe the number of muscles that make up the lower half of your back and abdomen that also cross over from front to back. Balance here being the key. You can’t have a healthy back with out a strengthened core…but that means the entire set of muscles not just a few…and not just on one side.
There are amazing things to learn about the bodies that we take for granted and inhabit every day of our lives. There are so many wonderful things about them and yet some difficult shortcomings after having moved upright so many thousands of years ago. We are most definitely still a work in progress.
Practice. Not such a bad word after all.
My entire yoga philosophy can be summed up in one phrase, “Just get to the mat.”
I find that if I can just get myself to commit to unrolling my mat and standing in Mountain pose then I find that a Forward Fold follows behind easily. From there comes Downward Dog followed by a little practice in swinging my leg forward into a lunge. From there Warrior 2 is an easy progression and then maybe Triangle? I hate Triangle, but why not? I think I hate having to come out of Triangle before everyone else in class more. Practice makes things easier, so go for it!
Since the yoga studio I loved closed (and the weekly protesting stopped) I’ve spent the last couple of months floundering with the back pain to prove it. There was a point before all hell broke loose in the state where I was going to class three times a week. I loved it. I had never felt better…and haven’t since.
Getting to class is challenging when you have three children, your spouse works a non-traditional shift (and schedule), and all of the classes locally take place on weeknights. Unless, of course, you are a senior citizen interested in “gentle” yoga, by which you should read here, chair based. Paying the class fee is a bit of a stretch as it is, paying a babysitter on top of that is worse…especially if I want to go more than once a week (and will need to pay a babysitter more often than not for all three classes). I love my family, but I can’t ask them to rearrange their lives to watch my kids for free.
If I lived in Madison it would be far easier…there are no shortage of classes or studios that would fit my needs. Heck, one of them is specifically a family studio and includes child care. But I don’t live in Madison and wishing I did won’t change that.
So instead, I go when I can and do what I can, which just means getting to the mat. Committing to unroll it and just stand there, if only for a brief moment. Stop worrying about special clothing, your pajamas will do…you’re at home after all, who is going to see or care? No, it’s not the same, but wallowing in my tears over what was won’t change that…and it does bring me to tears as silly as that seems.
Instead, I focus on my mantra: just get there…the rest will follow.
You may not know any homeschoolers, but for a great many of us (which I say with reservation because when it comes to homeschoolers there is no monolithic “us”) Spring not only brings green grass and flowers, but it also brings thoughts of the following school year. In truth I’ve been working on planning for next year for at least three months now. I’m just about finished with the first push as I have a pretty good idea of what we’ll be doing for just about every subject except science. In fact, it wasn’t until today that I committed to a loose plan for science…and that’s just of the topics I’d like to cover. That should not, however, be considered an admission that I have even the slightest idea of exactly what that will look like. But…I sure am closer!
If you’re wondering what it is that I do after my assistants go to bed in the evening you can pretty much assume that it’s either at the computer filtering through the jumble of ideas in my head to come up with a loose lesson plan scaffold or on my yoga mat. It’s the new normal these days.
I’ve mentioned before that my local yoga studio (I’ll call it YE) had closed. I had high hopes that a new one opening up one town over (I’ll call it NT) might take its place. I’m reserving judgement just yet, but my first class left me…distracted at best. True, it’s the first week and a number of the people there were first timers. And true, there were maybe two people there who were older than me…and I’m not that old. My favorite teacher from the YE will be teaching classes at NT very soon. So maybe there’s still hope?
In the meantime, while I wait for some of the newness of the studio to die down I’m reinvigorating my own personal yoga practice. I was getting a bit tired of my own ideas about practice and found that I was missing that outside voice to give correction and reminder. It’s almost as if the outside voice of the teacher functions as a secondary breath to help tie things together.
I started looking into downloading a video podcast in hopes of finding something that fit. Yoga Journal has some free ones, but the teacher’s voice and phrasing drove me batty. Then I stumbled across Yoga Today. You can register for free and watch their weekly free class or you can purchased classes individually. Another option is to become a subscriber (paying either on a month to month basis or pre-paying for an entire year up front).
I haven’t become a subscriber just yet, but at $9.99/month it’s cheaper than going to class locally and just might end up being worth it. If you consider yourself Yoga curious, you should definitely stop by. I don’t get anything for telling you that, by the way, but if you’re feeling generous and do subscribe, would you enter “mamaraby” as the Ambassador ID? You’ll get a free two-week trial and I’ll get a point toward my subscription.
I bought the “Flow” class with Adi Amar – perfect fit!
