Archive | April, 2012

YJNYC Day 3: Power of the Breath

24 Apr

Source Unknown. Is it yours? Let me know :)


“The difficulty is that it’s so simple, but the more you do it, the more you will open the treasures.” - Devarshi Steven Hartman on the breath (Pranayama) at Yoga Journal NYC. So often we feel our biggest challenges and goals lie in the seemingly impossible poses that our teachers or mat neighbor contort themselves in, but as many teachers expressed last weekend, the question is: are you looking to ‘get a workout’ or are you looking to ‘experience yoga’?

Many of us start our journeys for the former reason – we get a nice workout and it makes us feel pretty good. But the magic is found in the second ‘feel good’ part. With practice we begin to experience deeper connections of the body, mind and soul, which come primarily through the breath…then we start feeling really good. Qualities like ease, center, peace of mind and greater functioning of the body’s systems appear more. For seasoned yogis, pranayama is a way to merge consciousness in the Infinite.

This isn’t just for yoga practitioners either – we can reap the benefits conscious breathing in our every day lives, whether in other sports, hobbies or passions. It’s simply a practice to “be here now” and to be aware that “this is what it feels like for me, NOW”. In taking time to breathe slowly and deeply, we become aware, and can bring unconscious pattern to the forefront (making it easier to notice and change habits that no longer serve us). Such a valuable tool that we have within ourselves!

I adored Steven Hartman’s Power of the Breath class at the Yoga Journal Conference. It went much deeper, explaining the Koshas and various pranayama techniques. “The breath,” he said, “is the foundation of creating consciousness. If you are present and conscious, it’s yoga. If you aren’t, it’s not yoga.”

Simple, right? ☺

Liebster Award

22 Apr

Well friends, I’m honoured to say I was given my first “blog award” from Kestrel at Liberez-Vous. So cool! It’s called the Liebster Award and is given to blogs, new or old, that preferably have under 200 followers but are deserving of more.

I’m tickled that she thought of me. The two of us have loads in common and would be great friends, as we’ve decided by our Pinterest boards hahaha (Kestrel’s here). In addition to Liberez-Vous which is a yoga-related blog with interesting and reflective posts, she also makes adorable yoga mat carriers, aprons, etc. on Little Sister.

This Liebster award is a neat way to spread blog love and encourage other people to stumble on worthy reads. So without further ado, I share with you my five. They may well have over 200 subscribers…I’m not sure.

1. Veggie Vinyasa
This girl loves travel, yoga and veggies (hence the blog name) and posts about such topics. What I love, aside from her interesting and mindful topics, is that she always provides lots of related links for further reading. Keep it up Veggie Vinyasa! ☺

2. Simplify.Write.Live.
I enjoy this blog for its expressive posts from the heart of its writer, Crystal. She blogs about topics like life, our character, and relationships to things that really matter. Each post is uniquely creative and thought provoking – this girl can write!

3. Momma Yogi
Karen is a yoga teacher & holistic nutritionist, which equal a perfect combination of topics I enjoy reading about. She creates yoga thoughts of the week, scrumptious healthy recipes, nutritional info and reflections on how we can take our yoga practices off the mat and into our daily lives. Love this space.

4. Art and Practice
En route to becoming a naturopathic doctor, Talia is a fellow Canadian and I love reading about her journey in this intriguing field. Each post is incredibly informative and interesting. Check out one of my favourites on seasonal detox: http://taliamarcheggiani.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/spring-cleaning-and-detoxification/#more-906

5. Out of Sight, On my Mind
Mandi’s a friend who started blogging shortly after me, and it’s been a pleasure reading through her posts. She’s a natural writer who allows her true personality, challenges, triumphs and interests to shine by sharing thoughtful views, original poetry and meaningful material from the Internet.

Okay award winners, what do you do now? Follow these rules:
If you receive the award, you should:
1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
2. Reveal your top five picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
4. Hope that the people you’ve sent the award to forward it to their five favourite bloggers and keep it going!

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YJNYC Day 2: Closed mouth, content smiles

21 Apr


I love when someone walks into a room and they just “have it”. When they look in your eyes and you sense them really seeing or when they talk to you and you feel them really speaking. Elena Brower is a walking example of that.

Elena’s an internationally respected yoga teacher and NYC studio owner whom, again, my trusty yoga source Syd introduced me to (via Yogaglo). I sometimes subscribe to online Yogaglo as a cheap way to do great classes and Elena’s make me feel so centered, open and at ease. Now after taking classes with her in person at the Yoga Journal Conference I can see exactly why that is: SHE is centered, open and at ease with HERSELF and that energy flows through her teaching and into everyone around her, even when the classes are virtual.

The past year I’ve been reading tons of Elena’s thoughts on the Huffington Post and her blog, and can always connect with what she’s writing. She has a special way of getting through to people in an intelligent, graceful, relatable fashion that makes us question our own relationships and lives to make changes for the better – this leaks into her teaching style as well. She’s real and not afraid to talk about the challenges in her own life too.

In her first class of the weekend she encouraged us to, “take the negativity you’re feeling and use it as a landmark”. We should move toward feelings of frustration, hurt, fear, anger and/or anxiety – both on the mat and in our personal lives – and breathe space into those places so that we can make mindful, aligned changes. She had us close our eyes through much of the class and smile closed-mouth, content smiles. It’s amazing what that can do for postures that feel so tense and trying (and let me tell you, this woman may be gentle and chilled out with her energy and teachings, but the yoga is not easy!)

The entire weekend I was in la la land being in live classes and communication with this wonderful woman who’s played such an integral part in helping deepen my practice (which I told her after, against my mind telling me to shy off). Thankfully I said something, because it opened an opportunity for me to continue being in her presence doing Reiki in some of her NYC classes. Had I decided not to tell her my true feelings, I never would have manifested this connection with her in my life or had the chance to share & explore a new interest…it all feels right.

She said in one of her YJNYC classes (roughly quoted), “We can all create change in the world through yoga, but not necessarily through talking about it. We need to show it through our actions”. Elena truly lives up to that challenge every day, and I can’t wait to learn more from her in the coming months – so blessed and fortunate!

Similar reading: An article by Elena via The Chalkboard about the benefits of technology and her virtual yoga classes.

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