I read a good article last night that inspired me to share this practice intention with my students today because I think opening the heart is one of the most efficient way to parlay spirituality into yoga asanas. Most people (including myself up until about 8 months ago prior to my RYT training) tend to think yoga is all about the working out and asanas (postures). They were not able to see the link between yogasanas with spirituality, so I thought by creating the effect of offering the heart through this sequence, I can minimize my preaching and yet allow my students to feel the effects of the poses. Have a good weekend! Namaste!

Sun Salutation B sequence modified from YogaJournal’s article “Home Practice with James Higgins” by Andrea Ferretti. 

1. Supine Bound Angle
2. Child’s Pose
3. Cat/Cow Tilts
4. Seated Twists
5. Sun Salutation A
   • Mountain
   • Standing Forward Bend
   • Plank
   • Chatturanga /  Knee-chest-chin
   • Updog / Urdhva Mukha Svanasana
   • Downdog / Adho Mukha Svanasana
   • Forward Bend
   • Mountain
6. Sun Salutation B
   • Chair Pose / Utkatasana
   • Standing Forward Fold / Uttanasana
   • High Lunge (L) / Anjaneyasana (but with elbows bound behind back or in reverse prayer)
   • Downward Dog / Adho Mukha Svanasana
   • High Lunge (R) / Anjaneyasana (but with elbows bound behind back or in reverse prayer)
   • Downward Dog / Adho Mukha Svanasana
   • Plank
   • Chaturanga
   • Locust Pose / Salabhasana
   • Child’s Pose / Balasana
7. Bow Pose
8. Extended Puppy
9. Happy Baby
10. Savasana

I had a lesson planned for today’s lunch yoga at work, but one of the girls were suffering from insomnia for unknown reasons. As a teacher, I believe in giving what my students need, and being that we had a rough start today with a snow advisory that began at 7am, we were all feeling down and cranky. Thus, I’ve did a quick research on yoga journal’s website and put together some light and refreshing asana sequence that would fit in 1 hour. I hope this sequence will be useful to you as well.

1. Bound angle pose 
2. Child’s pose 
3. Cat/Cow poses 
4. Seated twists (L & R) 
5. Camel 
6. Wide-legged forward fold
   • heel-toe feet to center
   • come down to the knees 
7. Extended Puppy pose
   •  come to all fours
   • move buttocks halfway between the distance of the heels and knees
   • arms active, elbows not touching the mat
   • lower forehead to the mat/blanket
   • feel stretch on the spine, 1 min
   • pull hips to heels
   • release buttocks to heels, modified Child’s pose  
8. Gateway pose (L & R)
   • place left hand on the mat on the side
   • extend right leg
   •  lift right hand
   • lower right knees to center, repeat on RIGHT side 
9. Downward facing dog 
10. Sphinx pose 
11. Lie on the back, hug knees to chest, make circles with the sacrum 
12. Happy Baby pose
    • lie on the back
    • bring knees close to armpits
    • hold the inside of the feet
    • shins should be vertical to the floor/ceiling
    • saturate into the pose 
13. Savasana

I realized that I hadn’t been able to blog as much as I want to lately. I always think of soemthing to write during my practice but as soon as I get home, I’m overwhelmed with other commitmets (a.k.a. never-ending housechores).

Since I’ve begun teaching beginners for the past 1 month plus, I’ve came up with a few sequences. I thought it would be great to share that with those who frequent my blog, as well as using this blog to document the sequences for my own reference also.

I hope you find these sequences useful to you.

Focus: Stira Stuka – Strong / Steady & Calm 

1.       OM X 3

2.       Wide-legged bound forward fold (extend & fold)

3.       (Sun Salutation A): X 3

a.       Mountain

b.      Standing Forward Bend

c.       Plank

d.      Chatturanga /  Knee-chest-chin

e.      Updog / Urdhva Mukha Svanasana

f.        Downdog / Adho Mukha Svanasana

g.       Forward Bend

h.      Mountain

4.       (Sun Salutation A): X 3

a.       Mountain

b.      Chair pose

c.       Standing Forward Bend

d.      Plank

e.      Lunge

f.        Crescent pose

g.       Chatturanga /  Knee-chest-chin

h.      Updog / Urdhva Mukha Svanasana

i.        Downdog / Adho Mukha Svanasana

j.        Forward Bend

k.       Chair pose

5.       Downdog

6.       Plank

7.       Side-plank > Gate Pose / Parighasana (L & R)

8.       Child’s pose / Balasana (hands behind)

9.       Standing Star

10.   Revolved Wide-Legged Standing Forward Bend / Parivrtta Prasarita Padottanasana  (L & R)

11.   Skandasana? (L & R): one leg extended squat, hands in prayer position

12.   Table

13.   Frog

14.   Sphinx pose

15.   Seated cross-legged twist

16.   Reclining Bound Angle Pose / Supta Baddha Konasana

17.   Savasana

“Half the spiritual life consists in remembering what we are up against and where we are going.”

-Ayya Khema, “When the Iron Eagle Flies”

I’ve completed the in-class portion of my certification, and am taking time to complete the practical portion. Meanwhile, I’ve heard many people who told me that they aren’t ready for yoga. It really frustrates me to hear that and just today, I read a great article that summarized my thoughts and gave me a good idea of how to advice people who think that they aren’t good enough for yoga.

The author wrote:

“The point is that yoga helps us find balance in all areas of our lives; we’re not supposed to arrive in yoga class as a fait accompli. We’re supposed to show up ready to take a journey of transformation, whatever that may be. Everyone comes to the mat with a different imbalance, but everyone is working on something, and it is the act of getting on the mat that points us in the right direction.

A dear friend of mine began practicing yoga at the age of 37. She had always avoided it because she thought she was too stiff and that she didn’t have a “yoga body.” After several months of classes, she made a remark that I have never forgotten. She said that on the days she does yoga, she consistently makes better food choices, and these choices come naturally because she is calmer, more centered, and more fully in the present moment.

To me, this observation is the essence of the impact that yoga can have in all areas of our lives. I encourage you to disregard your friends’ advice and find a class that lets you begin to experience yoga’s extraordinary potential. You may need to experiment a bit to find the class that is just right for you, but I am sure it will be worth it.”

http://www.yogajournal.com/basics/2 

I don’t know what’s wrong with me lately. So we did find a place to rent across the border in Windsor, but the escalating cost of living and moving is wrecking my nerves. I hadn’t been able to save any money this year due to our wedding in Malaysia back in May, and recently the emergency trip back for my grandma’s funeral. I try not to fret about money, because I truly belief that we will be provided for and will be sufficient if we just LET GO and do what is appropriate at the time and place that we happen to be. The struggle between wanting to trust that instinct and giving in to the paranoia of not being able to survive in the future is driving me lifeless and incapacitated to be at my best.

I’m supposed to be going to Micha’s class today (Friday) since I had to skip yesterday’s class to go house hunting South of the border (or North depending on where you’re coming from in Michigan). Not going to class makes me feel ultra-guilty, but at the same time, the body is unwilling. The soul is depleting with depression, and the body is sluggish and uninspired. I don’t know why I had lost trust in myself and in everything that I do, especially with the practice of yoga. Yoga used to be my salvation, but lately I that my heart is boxed and shut tightly from being in the light of yoga.

I don’t know what else to do other than ride it out and deal with my current stress of moving/relocating and catching up with the course. Hopefully, when all is settled I can concentrate on my practice again.

I guess I was ready to open up myself again after my grandmother’s passing, so on Monday I decided to go to RSY for Micha’s class. Unfortunately, Micha was out-of-commission that day, and Regina taught her class before. It was definitely a lot more gentle and easier compared to Micha’s class, which is not bad, but I was looking for more of a challenge that day. Nonetheless, I was thinking about what transpired on Sunday, with my failure to give proper instructions to the students. I’ve decided that I should really begin by taking everything back to basics and slow everything down so that I can give clear and concise instructions when I eventually start teaching. With that said, I’ve truly learned a lot about what I can do when I start out by observing Regina’s class.

I went to Sattva yesterday (Tuesday) and was glad to see Micha teaching the 5:45 Level 1 class. Due to the recent chaos in my life, I knew I was really tensed up and constricted and I wasn’t really sure if I would ever get back to where I left off prior to my grandma’s passing, in terms of flexibility and openness of the body. Perhaps that’s a manifestation of me wanting to hide inside my tortoise shell emotionally.

As I lie on the bolster on the my and crossed my legs in half lotus pose, I began to center myself with the tranquility of the room. Micha brought her 2 new chihuahua pups with her that day, so that helped to bring a smile to my face. As we progressed through the class, I was amazed at how ready and fluid my body was as we through the various asanas. It felt like my body was craving for the expression through the body, and Micha’s magic was just the catalyst I needed.

When I was done with the class, I felt amazed at what I did in the class and went to thank Micha. I told her that my grandma passed, and somehow I just started bawling. How embarassing!!! I told her that in fact, I had been avoiding her Yin class because I know that my heart is still full of grief and I will just start to bawl in the class. 

As much as I like a release, I just don’t think I’m ready for it yet although everything seems to be back to normal for me on the outside. I am quite surprised that deep down under my consciousness, I am still yet to accept the passing of my grandma.

What is this? This is very unusual for me to be down for so long. I tanked my first take at teaching a pose in class yesterday, and my morale is a bit down, but I know that it’s stupid to be affected by something so minor. I was the one who decided to throw myself under the bus because I wanted the experience and feedback, because I’ve never taught any sort of physical workout before. It’s very different from sitting in front of the computer and generating lines and lines of instruction like I do at work. I admit that I did not practice my lines, given the madness of the weeks leading up to yesterday, plus I tried to be radical (maybe too creative??) with my instruction by asking the students to stand in Tadasana and lunge back and pivot the heel down to get into Warrior II. See how easy it is for me to just write the “keywords” of the instruction out here, but when I was up there, I was lost for words.

I told myself that I would accept everything, good and bad with open heart. Although, I should have known that I was emotionally fragile yesterday because I was tempted to just lie in a coccoon in the bed and skip class yesterday due of being depressed and stressed.

Anyway, it’s already Monday and I don’t know what’s bugging me. I am still trying to feel positive about yesterday’s failure. Right now I am feeling a little regretful about being a teacher because, I totally suck at it. I should just stick to writing stuff online.

I’m very mad at myself. Since I’ve been back from my grandmother’s funeral in Malaysia, I had been swamped. I had been trying to catch up with the homeworks due for the RYT program, and since I had been gone all last week for my grandma’s funeral, I had’t had time to finish my readings to complete the homework. Our apartment lease is also coming up, and we’re supposed to be moving across the border when our lease is up, so that I can fulfill my Canadian Permanent Residency requirement. I have spent all my time between homework, work and looking for apartments/houses and scheduling visits all week that I hadn’t had much time dedicated to my asana practice. I had only been to one class on Tuesday, with Elizabeth at Rising Sun per my classmate Jessica’s suggestion. The class was rather slow-paced for me, but not to say that I hadn’t learned from Elizabeth. She is indeed a great teacher and “adjuster”. On Wednesday I went to Bally for a quick run and Powerflex class. On Thurs and Fri I had been scrambling to complete Lesson 5 homework and beat myself up for not having gone to Micha’s classes on both days. It is not Saturday and I was supposed to go to Susanne’s class and I was too exhausted this morning to get up for class. I woke up slightly after class started and felt terribly guilty for not going to class. We have a full day today, looking at 12 places in Windsor from 12 to 8. Yesterday, I have created checklists to guide us through selecting the right place, printing maps online and routing our visits from one place to another. All this work made me feel extremely guilty for not going to the yoga classes but I can’t help it. Andy hadn’t done much throughout the process and our time is running out fast. Nonetheless, we did find a place that we like at the 11th hour. I hope that we get that place so that I can go on progressing with my yoga practice.

I hadn’t written much lately. My paternal grandmother passed away last Sunday (Sept 2) at 12:45 am Malaysian time and I still miss her deeply. Our whirlwind last minute trip had left us dazed and confused. We got the devastating news on our Saturday afternoon when we were in Toronto for LabourDay weekend. We had just arrived in Toronto the night before. Shortly after dinner with Andy’s parents, we drove 4+ hours back to Michigan to fly off the very next morning. We spent most of the 5 days flying (3 days flying, 2 days in KL) and driving last week, but the memories from the funeral service in KL when I was home for 2 days are still fresh on my mind. I lived with my grandma when I was little when my parents were busy making ends meet. It is very hard for me to accept that I see her just before she passed. Nonetheless, I am glad that she were there to share the great memories at our wedding back in May.

We got back on Friday morning to make it to the Yoga retreat in Vanderbilt, MI that we had paid for just the week before. I debated if I should have stayed with my family for an extra day or two instead of going to the retreat, but the thought of making up the hours for the RYT qualification stressed me out. Hence, we drove 4 hours after touching down in Michigan at 5:15am to Vanderbilt in the afternoon with 4 hours of sleep to the retreat. Nonetheless, the retreat seemed to relieve me of some grieve over the weekend. The optimism of my fellow coursemates, the serenity of the retreat, and wholesome activities planned did aid me in the course of healing.

I have been told that the Yin energy is somehow stored in the hip joints. I was doubtful until with the passing of my grandma that realized the loss of openness and flexibility in my body, particularly around the hips. I’m not too sure if sitting on the plane for a few days and 4 hours in the car caused it or not. Even so, it is now Tuesday and I am still reluctant to get back into my asana practice at the moment because of the grieve in my heart. Practicing asanas is the last thing on my mind right now, really. I guess you can call it a kind of depression, and I know I shouldn’t wallow in it. I’m going to push myself to get to a class tonight so that I continue to make progress in my practice.

Meals
(Monday)
B: Coffee
L: TJ’s Vegan Pad Thai, 2 kiwis
D: Organic Pasta Salad with Mushroom Medley and Mini Marinated Goat Cheese

(Tuesday)
B: Coffee, oatmeal
L: Last night’s pasta salad, organic banana
D: tbd