It’s Human to Hug

As you get further along in your asana practice, you start to understand how yoga postures require you to internally “hug” muscle to bone.  In doing so, muscles actively embrace the bones which give your poses stability, strength and ultimately, the support needed for your body to blossom open effortlessly.

Hugging people is an expression of love, care and peace. When we actively embrace another human being, there’s a feeling of bonding.  We feel internally supported and externally connected to the other person; hence, strengthening the relationship and generating an internal feeling of ease.

Hugging means bonding/joining.  The translation of yoga is union.  Could the simple practice of learning to hug muscle to bone in an asana class start to open us up to hugging more externally?   Many of us in the Western world hold back when greeting someone.  Often times a handshake, or worse a head-nod, suffices.

What if (the scary “what if”) we yogis started to take hugging off the mat and into our daily lives?  Some of us already probably do this because we’ve internally experienced the sense of strength and peace hugging internally (muscle to bone) and externally (embracing Mom) can offer.  If yoga makes you feel good, why not help those who haven’t/won’t do yoga feel better by simply offering them a hug.  A hug can be an easy reminder to someone they’re human and feeling is a good thing.

Hug yourself today.  Hug someone else today.  Who doesn’t want to feel lighter, more confident, happier and a sense of internal peace?  It’s human to want to hug and be hugged.  Don’t hold back.  Share your hugging potential with yourself and others.

Frequency vs. Variety

Given I’m a full-time yoga teacher, I’m often asked by my yoga students “how often do you practice yoga?”  Sure I practice 5-6 days a week, which I know is a privilege.  Though it recently occurred to me the frequency/discipline of getting on my yoga mat regularly isn’t the only thing that matters.  The variety of learning from different teachers and playing with other yoga styles is what really will challenge and advance me.  In addition, the intention I bring to my practice is just as important as variety if not more so.

For four years, I’ve religiously gone to the same studio in D.C. and practiced with some of the best teachers in the area.  It’s been a convenient option and offered me a lot of growth during that time.  More recently, I realized the easy option isn’t the best option for me anymore.  In some ways my growth has been stunted.

Solution to my problem…I’ve challenged myself for almost two weeks not to go into my “home away from home” studio.  I’ve forced myself to explore other places and teachers.  I’ve spent more time in my home yoga space, learning from myself  —we are our own best teachers.  Throughout the last couple weeks my intention was to simply remain open to what ever came up.

As hard as this was at first, I realized that going to the same place everyday to practice (frequency) kind gave me “tunnel-vision”.  The discipline in mixing things up is giving me new strength and confidence —in my personal practice as well as my teaching —and a few “ah-ha” moments in my overall life.  Though I struggled with the change at first, it was one of the healthiest decisions/changes I’ve made for myself in a long time.

Lessons I was reminded over the last two weeks:  1) Easy is not always the best option.  2) If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got.  3) Variety is the spice of life!

Art of Listening (continued)

The more we are able to practice the art of listening to breath and words, the more we will start to fully embrace and trust what we hear, externally and internally.  Overtime this skill of tuning into the sound of external words and flow of our internal life-force (a.k.a. breath), we start to become adept at combining the two and listening to bodily sensations and emotions.  With continued observation we start to find our personal rhythm on and off our yoga mats by moving from the heart –from what feels good in our bodies.

As you continue to develop a practice of listening to the power and feel of your breath, you’ll become mindful of the little voice that resides within you daily (intuition) –the one that is often neglected because the brain stomps on it.  Trust the process.  Start to listen to your breath and body on your yoga mat as well as off.

Start to live from what feels right as oppose to how you think you should live based on what others think you should do.  Learn to move in a way that feels healthy for you.  The more you practice listening to breath, the easier it will be to live from within and best of all live from the heart.

Art of Listening

Whether you practice yoga in a group or alone, yoga teaches us the act of opening our ears and relaxing our mind to the sound of our breath. Additionally, group yoga classes also teach us to open our ears and move our bodies to the teacher’s words. In this regard, yoga can sort of be like an adult version of Simon Says.

As trite as all this might sound, yogis know it can be a challenging task to stay 100% committed to listening to breath and the teacher throughout an entire practice. Many, especially those new to yoga, are so use to moving the body from the brain center -doing what we think we should be doing rather than moving based on how we feel in the moment – that we are so out of touch with listening from within.  The art of listening within starts with your breath.

For the next week, develop the simple practice of listening to your breath whether you are on your yoga mat, standing in line at the grocery store or Starbucks, driving to work or walking your dog.  By the way, if you have figured it out you can practice this anywhere, at anytime.  We’re always breathing but rarely pay attention to vital life force until we need it.

So again for the next week, notice what you hear when you breathe —is your breath choppy, shallow, long? Are your inhales and exhales even? When you inhale, does your torso expand or contract?  What do you feel on as you exhale?  Where exactly do you feel your breath –belly, ribcage, chest?  Are there areas you feel stuck -i.e. you can’t feel the breath in your upper chest?  Do you feel movement in the backside of the torso?  Breathe and intently observe how and what you feel.

To be continued…