Making Change...One Moment at a Time

One of my yoga teachers, Jennilee Toner always says something like, "go make change in the world," after every class she has taught me. It is a very powerful statement. Its kind of like the phrase, "Think Globally, Act Locally."

But before you can make a change in the world, you need to make changes with yourself. This is something I've been working on for awhile. The words,
"daily meditation," are often enough to make most run for the hills. I'm one of them. For years, I was meditating incorrectly. I thought savasana was how and when I was to meditate. Boy was I in for a shock when I arrived at my Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) at Frog Lotus Yoga when I found out I had to SIT for my meditation. There is no reason to sit in lotus pose, (padmasana) but it is important to sit upright with an elongated spine. Maybe try hero pose (verasana). Rodney Yee says this about the importance of the "setup" when it comes to meditation:

"But complete ease in your position is very important to achieve when just starting out with meditation, because it will encourage you to meditate more frequently.

Hero pose and crossed-legs pose both facilitate the movement of energy in the body. You get a lot of grounding just by doing them. There’s already a connection to the Earth that you don’t get in a chair. It sets up a neurological pattern in the legs in relation to the spine."

So why do so many not simply sit and meditate? Oh yeah...because it takes for ever...right? Well, during my YTT at Frog Lotus Yoga, 27-34 of us would come together at 6AM and meditate for 30 minutes...six days a week. That is a lot of change! Of course, we all cleared our schedules to make time for us to make that change. The good news is....you don't need 30-minutes a day, 6-days a week to make change. You can...in fact...Make Change...One Moment at a Time. Check out this video it tells you how:

ONE-MOMENT MEDITATION!

Take some time for YOU...so you can make time for others! Make change within you...so you can make change for others. Even if it is only One-Moment at a time. ---Go with ease.

Oh Yeah...Watch Me...I Can Do It Too!

This is me in Eka Pada Koundinyasana (variation) - One Legged Pose Dedicated to the Sage Koundinya. I've never seen this pose before my morning class with Jennilee Toner. Next thing I know...The Prentender's where playing full blast and I was in this pose. Some of you might think that this is such an achievement. Really it's not. My body allows me to do poses like this. However, it's not to kind to me in poses like Virabhadrasana III. Yesterday, I was up in Astavakrasana which looks like this:
This pose is actually a lot easier than it looks. So what is my point? Two fold: 1) Everybody and every body is different. So don't look with envious eyes. 2) Self Reflection.

Self Reflection is really what I want to talk about. Too often in life, people try to one up each other. We've all had "that" friend who tells a tale that is just a little bit better than yours. There really is no room for that in yoga. DUH! But it does happen. My 200 YTT instructor, Jennifer Yarroeaks of building positive time in a pose. Some of you might know this as muscle memory. She also talks about building negative time. Being in a pose with bad form...builds negative time.

SO..."just because you can...doesn't mean you should!" - Jennifer Yarro.

You can take this to so many different applications. The first I'd like to offer is on the mat. Really listen to your body. Some days you'll be able to achieve full expression of all the poses..other's not so much. Maybe not even at all. Refuse the urge to see what the person next to you is doing. (There is a good chance she/he is doing it wrong too.) Lastly, DO NOT BUILD UP THE NEGATIVE TIME. I constantly come out of pose about 10-seconds before the teacher brings the rest of the class down. That's OK! In fact, sometimes I'll even go into Balasana - Child's Pose. Today, one of the instructors called it the "wisdom pose." Because those who are really listening to their bodies are wise. (I guess I might be one of the wisest person you all know...lol)

Take this offering off the mat. What do you do...because you can? Waste energy, gas, time, effort? This is a personal, inward question. Surely, there are many answers. I'm actually thinking about taking a month off the internets...just e-mail.

For the record...no one has farted yet!

Find The Energy of the Pose

So for the past two weeks here at Frog Lotus Yoga, the instructor, Jennier Yarro has been telling me to "find the energy of the pose." Well today...I FOUND IT! I've been doing a lot of work with my core strength and going even deeper, with my bandhas. Specifically, my uddiyana bandha! This has been very beneficial to two of the poses I'm working on here: forearm balance, and handstand. Two poses I've NEVER DONE BEFORE. Today in class I wanted to see if I could engage my core and uddiyana bandha to flow from down dog into crane/crow. To achieve this you...well for lack of better words...need to "Find the Energy of the Pose."

I was warm, I was engaged...not I was UBER engaged. My fingers like octopus tentacles sucking into my mat. I turned my gaze between my hands, energized my bandha and lifted my feet and hips up to the sky, gently landing my knees high up on my triceps. Still engaged...and totally in the "energy" of the pose, my feet begin to once again lift. This was followed by my knees and hip. In a moment of sure child-like bliss I heard Jennifer say, "very nice Chris!" I was in handstand. For the record. I did not tell myself to do this. It just happened.

I'm pretty sure...that is "Finding the Energy of the Pose." I didn't have a camera on me...and I can't find a video of this, but here are two different videos. One from downdog to crane...the other crane to handstand. After watching these two videos you will realize what happened today on my mat. (FYI...after I came down with grace. I had to leave my mat and giggle.)

DOWNDOG TO CRANE VIDEO...CLICK (He goes to headstand...then kicks back to chaturanga dandasana)

CRANE TO HEADSTAND VIDEO...CLICK