Centering Clay/Centering Your Mind

I've been learning about "centering" at the beginning and the end of each yoga class. If you've ever been to a yoga class without it, you might feel ripped off. 

Why is centering important? Coming from a culture of faster-is-better, it made me wonder...

"Centering" your body is like centering clay on a wheel. The most basic ceramic technique starts with slapping a handful of clay in the middle of a metal disc (wheel) before you pull it up into a cylinder. Without it, the clay throws you, not the other way around.

If you watch a master do this before you give it a try, it looks easy. They throw the clay on the wheel, place their hands over it, and pull it up into a given shape. Within a minute they could have a finished work. 

As a beginner, I thought, "I'd love to have an ice cream bowl. " (the end product) 

Lacking patience and  wondering why it was difficult when it looked easy, I became frustrated. 

Like ceramics, yoga centering/meditation looks easy. But it is important to remember that no master is born a master, rather it takes practice. 

More importantly, it isn't about (the end product) instead it is the journey that makes it forth the while. 

Start by enjoying your journey...

t.

Sand Mandalas and the death of a yoga practice...

Our version of Tibetan Sand Mandalas at Washburn High School...

Would you make art just to destroy it? 

What is the difference between this and the death of our yoga practice? 

Is it worth it just for the experience?

How to teach a Yoga Sequence?

Developing a yoga sequence to teach is a bit more difficult than meets the eye. On one hand, I wonder how to fill an entire hour of time and on the other I wonder how I could possibly squeeze it into an hour.
It sounds contrary, and yet possible for this to happen.
As in teaching art (this is my 8th year) this is always the case. And for a scattered mind like mine, it is difficult. All I know is that I need to over plan, be myself and understand there will people that I still won't click with and this is OK.
Below is a recent video of a student who learned about sand mandalas in my class...

Any ideas?

A toast to the new year!

According to yoga, the purpose of the whole or creation is to give us a context for understanding what we are and what we are not.... A person who experiences kaivalya see prakrti, the material world, simply as it is, with no meaning beyond that... 

By praticing asanas we become more flexible; by practicing pranayama, we gain control of our breath. It is similar with kaivalya: something gradually happens that is out of our control....

There are two forces within us: one comes from our old conditioning and habits; the other is our new conditioning that develops out of our changing behavior. As long as these two forces are operating, the mind is swinging from one to the other. But when the old force disappears, the mind no longer swings back and forth. We have reached another state, and it is felt as a continuum. 

-The Hear of Yoga, T. K. V. Desikachar

I was sitting back enjoying my son and his friend's independent play, while I read this last work.
It is cool to think that we can have the power to control our relationships to things and to people in our lives. The secret is simple, and yet difficult. All that I have to do is to understand who I am, and who I am not. I am not my job, my car, my stuff, etc... I am not in control of what others think that I am...
I am my own person, independent and yet interconnected. I am lucky to start this process of reflection:)

Svadhyaya...

Svadhyaya is the 4th Niyama

Sva = "self" and Adhyaya = "examination"

Because we cannot always just sit down and contemplate things. We need reference points. For many this may be the Bible or a book that is of personal significance... The Heart of Yoga, T.K.V. Desikachar

...As long as you are trying your very best, there can be no question of failure. 

Mahatma Gandhi

Yesterday I presented Svadhyaya with Wendy to our group of yoga-teacher-studiers. We decided that it would be nice to serve everyone tea. 

Taking tea in a unique mug, with clean water, organic lemon and local honey is svadhyaya. 

We are the mug, filled with water. Like lemons and honey; our lives are filled with the bitterness of attachments and the sweetness of love.

- Take some time to enjoy your tea.

Keep it real...

As best we can, we show others what we have seen up to now. 

It's at best a progress report, a map of our experiences by no means the absolute truth. 

And so the adventure unfolds... and we need each other's help.

Wherever You Go There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn

Like teaching art, teaching yoga will be tough to lead a class (at times to people who have more experience than myself). But this quote helps lead me back to being a "humble yogi" with nothing but my practice, my experiences and a few tools in my back pocket. 

(How do I hide these tools without pockets in my yoga pants, you will never know).

Moral to this story:

Keep it real.

Peace...

People measure their esteem of each other by what each has, and not by what each is... 

Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

There is a quiet kind of peace you get when walking over a solid packed foot of snow. It feels like you are floating (or at least walking in those old 80's style moon boots). My center of gravity thrown off without fear of falling. What's the worst that's going to happen, I fall in the powdery stuff. 

The snow absorbs the city noises, and is such a fine reminder of how when a million of anything decide to through a party, havoc ensues. 

Kind of funny to see a 18 wheeler get stuck in snowflakes that are smaller than my finger nail!