Tuesday, March 13, 2012

updated teaching schedule!!

My weekly yoga teaching schedule for March 2012, all at The Cosmic Groove at 1224 Hendersonville Road in South Asheville unless noted:

Hatha Yoga for Everyone!, Wednesdays, 5:45pm to 7:00pm
This gently flowing yoga class focuses on proper alignment of the body in space, breath awareness and its relationship to movement, and mindfulness throughout the practice and in our lives.  It is designed for everyone, including brand new beginners, continuing beginners, and those with a more established practice.  Each class will include a gentle warm up of the spine and major muscle groups, followed by a series of standing poses.  After the standing poses, we will focus on either seated forward folds and twists, backbends, and/or hip opening poses.  We’ll always incorporate breath awareness throughout the practice, and we’ll finish up with a nice long savasana (resting posture).  

Slow Flow Vinyasa for All Levels, Thursdays, 5:45pm to 7:00pm
Vinyasa is a form of hatha yoga which emphasizes the linking of breath, movement, and intention (mindfully choosing to place our attention somewhere).  Moving slowly enough to maintain proper body alignment, but vigorously enough to build some heat in our bodies, we will explore a variety of creative flowing posture sequences which will usually change from week to week, helping us to keep our practice fresh, fun, and a little challenging.  We’ll always incorporate breath awareness throughout the practice, and we’ll finish up with a nice long savasana (resting posture).  Suitable for all levels of practitioners in good health.  This is NOT a "power" yoga class, so please don't be intimidated by the word vinyasa.  It just means that we'll link up our breath with our movement and keep moving for most of the class.  

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Asheville!

Please bear with my out-of-date teaching schedule as I make the transition from Chapel Hill to Asheville. I promise to bring you news about upcoming classes and workshops soon!
No matter where I look, beauty abounds!
My Mom & I at Looking Glass Falls, Pisgah National Forest, Brevard, NC.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

T-Rex Hates Chaturanga

upcoming teaching schedule!

Saturday, 1/28, Veda Vinyasa at Open Heart Yoga School, 8:30-9:30am, donation (pay only what you can)
Monday, 1/30, Lil' Asana (ages 4+) at Open Heart Yoga School, 4:00-5:15pm, donation
Thursday, 2/2, Yoga at Open Heart Yoga School (sub for Tom G.), 7:30-8:30am, donation
Friday, 2/3, Hatha Yoga 1 at Triangle Yoga, 9:30-10:45am, $13 students/yoga teachers/seniors, $16 everyone else

Veda Vinyasa! Saturdays, 8:30-9:30am at Open Heart Yoga School

Veda Vinyasa with Nicole

Friday, December 16, 2011

Lil Asana Playshop, Christmas Eve, 1-3pm at Open Heart

Lil' Asana Christmas Eve Playshop!

Monday, December 5, 2011

Shenpa

A few weeks back, just as I was getting into a routine of teaching yoga full-time, a water disaster in my home rendered it temporarily uninhabitable and all of my feelings of insecurity, groundlessness, and fear surfaced. My yoga practice, my yoga community, my family, and my friends have been my refuge during this trying time. Really, everything has worked out quite well. Tomorrow, I can move back in to a home with new flooring in every room. Lots of stuff was destroyed, but I feel a sense of freedom when I have fewer physical possessions to care for. I'd been wanting to declutter for some time, and now I must. It feels like a fresh start, and I really love fresh starts.
That's not what this post is really about, though. I've noticed that every time a crisis arises in my life, I turn to the teachings of Pema Chodron for solace, specifically her teachings on shenpa or being "hooked". My copy of When Things Fall Apart is there waiting for me each time a romantic relationship dissolves, a family drama ensues, or my house floods. As I was feeling the stress of trying to move out of my temporary housing, clean my home (covered in sawdust from the laying of the new subfloor) and move back into my home in just two days, along with teaching four yoga classes in those same two days, I started listening (again) to Pema's audio book, Getting Unstuck: Breaking Your Habitual Patterns and Encountering Naked Reality.
Since becoming a yoga teacher, I look for potential themes for classes or lesson plans in my everyday experience. My teacher, Allison, teaches from a place of personal experience, and I believe that's one of the reasons she is so effective as a teacher. If she's teaching about contentment, she's going to tell a personal story about how she's had to practice contentment. I aspire to emulate her in that way, and I think I've had some success with that so far.
I noticed today, as I was listening to Pema Chodron's teachings on shenpa, that I am only really interested in breaking some of the emotional patterns that aren't serving me well when they really aren't serving me well. The rest of the time, I basically just pretend they don't exist. Shenpa is something like attachment, so is related to the yogic goal of vairagya, non-attachment, but shenpa as interpreted by Pema Chodron is a noticing of a sort of tightening up or "hooked" feeling (the feeling--and the habitual response to it--is the shenpa). Shenpa is pre-verbal, before thoughts, so it's easy to overlook it unless you're really practicing staying in the present moment and really being honest with yourself about how you react to situations as they arise. So, my practice this week is to stay really, really present as shenpa arises even in the more mundane moments. And, I have a lesson plan for my next class. :-)