Here Comes the Sun

Even though the studio is in wind down mode, Jade held a workshop centering on the Ashtanga sun salutation this past weekend.

Surya A is the basis of my teacher training via YogaWorks and it's the first set of movements in Primary Series. Deceptive in that it looks simple, the sun salutation broken down is intense, involving the entire body when done correctly.

I like workshops. I always learn something. This time I came to the realization that my Up Dog was sagging too close to the floor and probably just as much to blame for my shoulder issues as chatarunga is. I also found a few tweaks for Down Dog and came to the firm conclusion that I will need to modify the entire set of movements for a while longer until I've regained the lost ground from my illness over the winter.


The surprise of the workshop for me was the realization that I can roll over my toes. Hurts like hell, mind you. But it's now accessible - provided I have my upper arms strapped.

I'd encourage anyone - at any level - to try out a workshop at least once. They are not for every student, but they usually provide insight that a regular class or home practice doesn't.

Mommy and Me Yoga

The Yoga Room offers Mom and Baby yoga. I often take the yin class that follows and am a bit jealous of the time that Kay spends in a room full of babies supervising the new moms' asana. So although Mother's Day is past, here is a peek at the awesomeness of doing yoga with your child.

Posing for the Camera

Jade, the owner of the studio I teach restorative out of, decided professional photos of all the teachers might be an awesome addition to the studio's website. And it could be empowering to boot.

Many people, me included, cringe away from the idea of being photographed generally. Add yoga togs and poses, and all but the Tara Stiles of the yoga world might not be amenable.

However, photographing yourself as you practice isn't the worst idea ever. Unless you are a Bikram devotee, it's likely you've never actually seen yourself in a pose. It's a fresh perspective that might be good for your practice and your self-image.

Having tweaked my shoulder a bit the night before, my twisting range of motion was limited, so I went with my strengths - hip openers: Seated Bound Angle, Warrior II and Tree. After a few more poses, I warmed to be able to perform Triangle and Exalted Warrior in the group shots.

My daughter tagged along, which provide the Kids' Yoga instructor an opportunity to demonstrate a few poses with her.

The photographer was Allison Smith of Allison Smith Photography. Being a yoga student herself, she was really able to envision and the stage shots.

If you ever have an opportunity to be photographed in your yoga state of mind, I encourage you to give it a go.

*Photo by Allison Smith

Free Hatha Class This Saturday

Fort Saskatchewan is hosting its annual Fall Family Festival on Saturday, October 9th. Plenty of goings on for all, and The Yoga Room will be participating by offering a free drop in to its regularly scheduled Hatha Flow class that morning.

Class is from 9:15 to 10:30 for anyone 12 or older. Mats are available at the studio.

If you've ever wondered about yoga or thought that possibly a yoga class is just what you've needed, drop in and give it a try. No experience is necessary

Looking forward to seeing new faces this weekend!

The Yoga Teacher

A few weeks ago I read a novel by Alexandra Gray titled The Yoga Teacher. I was drawn to the book because the main character chucks her well-paying day job to run off to an ashram in California to take in one of those intensive teacher training programs. She dreams of teaching though at the end of her training the cold reality of eating and paying bills gives her a long breath pause or two.

She rather quickly builds a private clientele and a reputation as a wonderful teacher that lands her cushy gigs teaching obscenely wealthy older ladies, a rock star's wife and a internationally known actress - not the typical scenario of most aspiring yoga teachers - but her basic dilemma about ethics over giving people what they want is a common theme, I think, among teachers.

One thing struck me.

After completing her training, the instructor advises all the students to "... start teaching. Don't wait until you are perfect. Just grab some people and get to it."

Which is where I am. I am not perfect. I don't have a smooth delivery. I forget things. My sequences don't sing auras. They lurch here and there and I can see instantly when they aren't working though I don't always know what damage control to apply in the moment.

And I am not me in the role yet. Sometimes I am Jill or Catherine, and I fall back on my teacher persona from back in the middle school English teacher days of yore. I haven't gelled as much as I am just congealing haphazardly.

Building a teaching practice is not the stuff of fiction. There are no former models, aristocratic ladies who lunch or famous actresses in my teaching future. I have a few students. Four in total who are registered and a couple of curious who've dropped in but haven't returned.

Yesterday's Flow class had one student. She was making up a class she'd missed earlier in the week. My registered duo were no shows. It was disappointing, but once I started class, I let that go fairly easily and fell into the instruction.

Jill says that it takes time and as I am not a patient person, this is probably one of the multitude of tests the universe has sent me over the course of my life. Lessons that have mostly been for naught as patience doesn't stick to me like carbs do.

To help me out - and herself too because it's hard to build a studio on your own back alone - Jill has given me one of the noon drop in's. My goal is to form a bridge between the drop in and my Saturday class. To this end, I am scheming up a sequence I can down-size to drop in size and stretch out for the Flow class. People want to feel as though they have "exercised" which is only part of what yoga is, but it is the part that matters the most to the most people.

If you are in teacher training or a newly minted yoga teacher, I recommend Gray's The Yoga Teacher. You will nod, smile and thoroughly relate.

Army Dumps Situps For Warrior Poses

Now that U.S. Army finds it difficult to refuse fat recruits, it's struggling to shape up the softer lumpier versions of future soldiers it finds itself with these days.

What's a drill sergeant to do?

Asana, baby, asana.

The Army is dumping it's calisthenics in favor of yoga, which is not - as any Ashtangi can attest to - a girly-man pursuit.

Over the summer, my teacher, Jill was invited to lead a morning yoga class at the local boot camp inspired fitness center. The owners are ex-Military and only just being won over to the idea that yoga is about strength as much as flexibility. It will be interesting to see where their new awareness leads them.

My own personal practice is Ashtanga primary-based. Strength is more of my issue at the moment than length of muscle or freeing limbs. I am at a point where flexibility is stalled until muscles are strong enough to propel me to the next level.

I recently began Sattva at The Yoga Room in town. Jade instructs. She's a beginning teacher like me. Well, maybe a bit more mat time under her belt than me. Sattva is an Ashtanga based instruction in its early pioneer days here on the western prairies of Alberta. My feelings about it are mixed, which according to my own teacher training instruction means I should do more of it. Never allow yourself to be seduced by that which comes easily. If something gives you pause or makes you work, it's probably more necessary to your training and growth.

Good for the Army though. A little asana never hurt anyone and it's fitting in a Gita sort of way.