Meet the Teachers: Shawn Kent

 

Welcome to East Side Yoga Shawn! Thank you so much for taking the time to answer some questions about your journey with yoga and how it got you to this ever-changing point. For those who have not been to Shawn’s tuesday and thursday 4:30 Mindful flow class I highly recommend it. There is a great opportunity to quiet the mind’s distractions and have a little laugh at the same time Thanks again Shawn 

-Jaime

What was your first experience with yoga? My first experience with yoga was not so good. I went to a class on night out of curiosity.. I can’t remember where it was, but they had a lot of people packed into a small space. I was just getting over a cold so I wasn’t feeling so well, and unfortunately for me it was a power yoga class. I got sick halfway through and had to call it quits.    How has your practice changed since your beginnings with the practice? I would say that my over time my understanding of the mind body relationship has evolved from an intuition of this connection, to a clear experience of learning to integrate the two through a fully engaged asana practice. Over the years of practice I have learned to observe how muscular tension, emotional constrictions, and thought habits come together to create tension patterns in the bodymind. The more I practice, the more I see how deep and complex our fundamental sensation of “being-ness” actually is. We often take this rich inner world of sensation for granted, mostly because we are not attuned to it. What may seem redundant to us at first glance is really the wellspring of our lives.   When did it click that this was something you wanted to teach, and how you could offer it to others? The only reason I took yoga teacher training was to augment my mind/body therapy groups for the youth at juvenile court. When I was an undergraduate psyche major I knew that I wanted to integrate eastern and western approaches to healing. There wasn’t much research on yoga, meditation, and therapy back then but I put together what I could and wrote my undergraduate thesis on incorporating eastern and western practices in therapy. After graduate school I went to work with the kids at Juvenile court and began putting together mind/body groups to help them cope with anger, substance use, and stress. The groups have been pretty successful with the youth and have had a big impact on at least some of them.  As far as offering it to others?… I honestly try to offer this knowledge to people in almost every class I teach. I am fundamentally a therapist at heart. Sometimes people are not used to getting this kind of information in a yoga class so they may wonder what the point is. I will say this,.. yoga is a powerful healing modality. It is a spiritual psychology every bit as sophisticated as modern cognitive psychology. It offers the opportunity to work on the body yes, but also the heart, mind, and ultimately the very character of being. Why pass on such an opportunity?   You are one of the only teachers to incorporate partner yoga into your classes (sorry spilled the beans! everyone its awesome you’ll be happy you tried it Could you speak about why you bring that into practice? Simple answer?  Because it is fun and it feels great. There are things that can be done in partner work that can never be done in asana to heal the body and relieve tension and stress. Also students learn some really cool skills that they can take back home to their families and loved ones if they really want to. I feel a great joy in my heart when I teach partner work and it is rarely a serious thing, we laugh a lot in class. On a more complex note I would say that as a massage therapist I have really learned the importance of healthy skilled touch in human interaction. Learning to experience safely stretching and being stretched by another person is  a very healthy things. I think the fact that something so wonderful and helpful is a novelty says something about our society and our societies need to develop a new and more healthy perspective on touch. Once people learn new ways of relating to the experience they receive great benefit.  Healthy touch reduces stress hormones, releases endorphins and also releases oxitocin which reduces aggression induces relaxation and social connectivity. I could probably write you a paper on why I think partner work is valuable.   The class you offer at East Side is called Mindful flow. What place does the mind have in yoga class? Mindfulness comes from the pali term Sati, which means to remember, or to be aware of. Practicing Asana alone in Mindful flow is sufficient, but it is most optimal to practice asana as a form of meditation. To put it simply, the physical experience of being in the body and the breath offer us an anchor for our wandering minds. Physical sensation and mental chatter cannot exist in the same space at the same time. This is wonderful,  if I train my awareness on the way the breath feels as it flows in and out, and I focus on the feeling of the entire body in asana I am free. For a moment from worry, judgement, anticipation, regret, hope, fear, planning, scheming…. a whole cacophony of mental noise that I normally spend every waking minute projecting on to the simple beautiful process of being alive.   What is your favorite pose to teach? All poses serve the same function for me. All poses provide for a release of held tension in the bodymind, and all poses serve as a dharana, a focus for awareness to settle on here and now in the present moment. So it isn’t the pose that matters to me, but how students relate to the pose.    What do you like best about East Side Yoga? I like the kind gentle atmosphere. Everyone involved in the Eastside experience is extremely kind and down to earth. I appreciate the simple honest atmosphere of Eastside, …like midfulness, it is exactly what it is and nothing more.

Interiew and insight with Craig Williams

On Friday May 25th Craig Williams will give a free lecture on the roots and purpose of Yoga,  followed on Saturday May 26th with a four seminar entitled Sacred Body, Sacred Space.

We asked Craig to shed some light on the concepts he will be lecturing on.

For someone new to a yoga practice, how will they benefit from attending a discussion on the roots and purpose of yoga?

CW-For someone new to the practice of yoga, it can be very inspiring to be aware of the spiritual roots of the yoga tradition. In today’s world of information and media overload, many people are confused about the history of yoga. The western world and the western mind is conditioned to transform traditions into a homogenized presentation and convey information as a commodity, something which must be packaged in a certain way in order to please everyone.  The western world is also very uncomfortable with any sense of consciousness outside of the somatic realm, hence its obsession with defining Yoga as physical exercise. Therefore it can be very powerful and transformative to learn of the deep spiritual roots of yoga and become aware of its rich offerings of inner practices. The majority of modern health issues are psychological and emotional in nature, and while physical exercise is vital for health, deeper approaches are needed to address deeper issues. It’s also important to remember that the spiritual roots of yoga are not owned by a particular culture, religion or social group, they are the inheritance of humanity on the level of the spiritual heart. To understand this often demands a total transformation of perspective. This is what the inner practices of yoga can offer us. So I think learning about the roots of yoga can be an important and powerful shift for the western practitioner and can provide the aspirant the chance to see life through a new lens, what we call in Sufi esotericism “the eyes of the Heart.”

How would you define being healthy?

CW- One of the most important paradigms eastern thought can offer us is a new envisioning of the definition of health. The Ayurvedic text book, Sushruta Samhita, gives the following definition of health: “One who is established in Self, who has balanced doshas (psycho-physiological processes in the mind / body), balanced agni, properly formed dhatus (body tissues), proper elimination of malas (bodily waste products), well functioning bodily processes, and whose mind, soul and senses are full of bliss, is called a healthy person.” This is a much more complex and integrative vision / definition of health than the allopathic “absence of disease” definition of health!! It envisions a complex yet essentially simplistic definition which sees the body as not just a machine and addresses the issues of consciousness on all levels: physical, mental and spiritual. This is perhaps the greatest gift of the eastern sciences of Ayurveda, Yoga and Jyotish: they can open our minds to a new understanding of health and disease and provide us with a truly integrative medicine which addresses each person as a unique expression rather than as a statistic. In my upcoming workshop “Sacred Body, Sacred Space”, we will explore in-depth the various ways these sciences can be used to facilitate deep healing on all levels!

The Eastern philosophies and healing systems that you will be talking about viewed the body very differently from the Western science,  do you see any current trends of science of the West being more accepting of Eastern thought?

CW – The eastern definition of health and the eastern views on anatomy and physiology are a troubling entity to the western paradigm. However this is starting to change, particularly due to the advances in quantum physics. The classical Newtonian viewpoint of science is helpful on many levels, however on a larger world vision is can be particularly naive. I feel that many people in the west are still completely uninformed of the viewpoints of quantum physics and how these viewpoints are extremely similar to ancient eastern sciences. It will most likely be generations until paradigms in the west change but shifts are starting to happen. However I will say this, paradigms in science only change when people change. It’s very similar to issues in the political realm. We should not sit back and wait for someone or something to “fix” our problems. We must take the journey ourselves and seek to transform our minds and our perceptions to allow us to even conceive of understanding or creating a new paradigm!!  We can only see what we believe. Our beliefs can either hold us back or open new doorways, so if we wish to see a new world, we have to see the world in a new fashion. We have to see with the “eyes of our Heart”.

Your Sacred body, Sacred space talk will include a large focus on Prana,  many yoga practitioners have a loose idea of what Prana is but may be unsure of its affects,  can you describe what Prana is and how it effects us?

CW – The subject of Prana is perhaps the most important area of focus in all of eastern thought! We will explore this in depth in the “Sacred body, Sacred space” workshop. Prana is the ultimate tool for personal transformation and it is the ultimate link with the realms of nature, stars, planets and beyond! Prana is found in our bodies, in our breath, in our thoughts, in our emotions, in our fears, in our tears, in the moon, the stars, in a touch, in our medicine. When we understand what Prana is and how we can create  , conserve and extract Prana within our daily lives, we can break old patterns and create new visions of health and spiritual growth. In “Sacred body, sacred space”, we will learn valuable tools which will teach us how to perceive, generate and conserve Prana. This is perhaps the most important aspect of personal growth and transformation and one can use these tools in any system of healing!

For more details of the free lecture and seminar please visit

http://www.eastsideyoga-austin.com/east-side-yoga-events-workshops.htm

our community

This is a video members of our community made to raise money for some exciting studio upgrades. We started with the changing room and we hope to continue with more renovations. East side yoga has put down strong roots on 1 1th street and now its time to open up full bloom. see link below…

http://www.indiegogo.com/project/widget/99724

Interview with Rama Vernon

This weekend (23-25) ESY will be hosting Rama Vernon, a profound teacher and pioneer of yoga in America. Her workshop on resolving conflict and cultivating peace through the yoga sutras will bring you tools for self-transformation in your practice and in your daily life. Our teacher Melissa Spamer interviewed Rama for this workshop.

Melissa: When did you first begin to study the Yoga Sutras?

Rama: I first began in 1973 on one of my trips to India. I was studying with Mr. Iyengar. He told me I was to begin to study the Yoga Sutras and sent me to a special bookstore to purchase my first copy of the text. Even though I had previously attended courses on the yoga sutras before that, I had never purchased my own copy and delved into it. There was a lot of Sanskrit terminology I didn’t understand at that time. And so, I just had the book and slept with it under my pillow, thinking maybe it would reveal itself to me. Then one night I heard these sounds in my head and I went into my little study with my yoga sutra book. I began reading the sutras and discovered that the sounds I was hearing were in the sutras. So to me, that meant it was time to really delve into this text. When I decided that, teachers came. I then had a Sanskrit teacher that helped me with the sutras, with the non-sectarian verbal roots of Sanskrit. It was quite profound. And then we would chant the sutras. And I found that in the chanting, many times, the sutras meaning began to reveal itself. So that is how I started, and then I had many more teachers that I continued to study the sutras with such as Baba Hari Das, direct disciples of Swami Sivananda and others. Whenever there was a teaching on the yoga sutras I would be there.

Melissa: How has the text helped you personally resolve inner conflict within your practice and why is this particular text so important to your teachings?

Rama: Oh my, well …. No one taught me these things but I started to see how the Yoga Sutras related to the asanas. I was in England for a year, as Mr. Iyengar had me traveling all over England teaching to his senior teachers and their students on how the sutras related to asana. I didn’t even know it was that unique because to me it was so obvious the Sutras teachings are within asana – of course. Such as attachments (raga) and aversions (dvesha). We are attached to certain poses because they give us pleasure, which is what attachment is, to all things that bring us pleasure. And then how we try to avoid the poses that don’t bring us pleasure just discomfort. I began to look at this in my students and myself. Fear, abhinevesha the last klesha, is apparent in asana. We are dealing with fear all the time. It is said there are 84 basic poses and 100,000 variations on each. This represents infinite ways in which the mind expresses itself through the body. If the expression of the mind is through the body, and there are infinite ways in which we do that through asana practice, I saw that every time we went into a new variation, it changed our spatial relationship. Practicing asana brings up our fears because we have to face the unknown within a new spatial relationship. The variations of the asanas represent the unknown. For instance, when we are in a headstand it is a new spatial relationship to put the head on the earth and the feet in the sky, and it is very different for the ego, which is represented by the head. I began to see how all of this related, and how the yamas and niyamas related to asana, their direct correlation. All of this was considered unique then even though I just thought it seemed quite obvious.

I then began to see how the sutras applied to my everyday life such as imagination (vikalpa). We project our images onto another person, and when they don’t live up to those images that we project onto them (which leads to expectations) it can lead to disappointment. I saw how we may try, even as yoga teachers, to live up to the expectations of others, politicians do this, people in public service do this, teachers do this… We all try to live up to what we feel is expected of us, especially in regards to our relationship with our parents. I then saw how the sutras were not something that was ancient but it was everyday life. I began speaking to that and it seemed to resonate with people. It really began to show the reasons for, or the origins of, suffering in our life. These teachings go to the roots of the suffering; they do not just treat the symptoms of suffering. There is a big difference.

Melissa: Is that then how you began to incorporate the teachings of the Yoga Sutras into your global work with conflict transformation?

Rama: Yes, several years later, I was asked to go to the Soviet Union to see about putting on a yoga conference but when I got there I learned that the Soviet Union was jailing yoga teachers. It wasn’t exactly the time to put on a yoga conference! It was really threatening to think people could become such independent thinkers. I brought a suitcase full of yoga books and handed them out to people. They all made it clear they were interested in exercise but not the meditation because they were scared of what the meditation meant. They were afraid of going beyond what their political system called for, and that they might be seen as suspicious. I was very careful about that, and I realized that we can’t put on a yoga conference just yet but what can we do? I then put on conferences that brought in various professionals in specific fields such as economics, environmental sciences and so on, intending to bring Soviets and Americans together who were working in the same fields. We brought together human rights workers, and those working on the Star Wars Program (a missile defense shield) and it took a long time to develop trust between these groups of Americans and Soviets – about three years. But once the trust was established we were able to address the real issues like human rights, and help people get out of prison that were put there unjustly. We then went on to build schools and health clinics because their needs were so great then. I helped bring the Americans that could work with them, and then the Soviets could come to America – a kind of exchange program in different fields. It was just wonderful. We had about one thousand joint projects going on between the two countries. Just bringing individuals together that had a common interest or field of study. The intention here was to help end the stereotypes of warring nations.

I didn’t know that it would be so powerful. Gorbachev later said that it was groups like ours that ended the cold war not just the leaders.

I taught the sutras to the Russian Parliament, after the revolution. I never said it was the Yoga Sutras until I realized that some of them were the spiritual advisors to Russian leaders who were running for office. I then said to them, that this was based on Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras and they became really excited. I said these teachings were very ancient, even beyond a thousand years old. This wisdom is even older then what they give it credit for, and they really loved that. They were able to identify with the sutras and they really understood it – they got it.

I was talking about the vrittis of imagination (vikalpa) and misconception (viparyaya), and how these two are the major ones that cause conflicts. I went on to teach on the ego (asmita), and what it means. We skew things from the lens of the ego. I taught on the individual ego, the family ego, the national ego and the global ego. When one national ego comes up against the other, it creates a territorial-ness and then that creates war.

I went on to teach on the origin of war, and show them how it is created from the stereotypes distanced from correct perception (pramana). When we go from correct perception and direct experience, compared to information that is not your direct experience, it is the experience that comes from another person who tells us of their experience. We then resonate with their experience as though it is our own, and we get further and further away from our own direct experience. This leads to us creating our perception by way of inference – this is our media that is being programmed within our countries. That is where stereotypes come from. We loose the thread of truth when we allow ourselves to drop into incorrect perception. When we couple the imagination and incorrect perception we have a mess! Both individually and politically!

This is all in the Yoga Sutras.

Melissa: Why do you think the sutras have survived all this time and why are they still relevant today?

Rama: The Yoga Sutras give us a road map on how to live our life. They give us a clear way to get out of pain.

This text outlines it very beautifully. As Patanjali, the author and compiler, took these teachings to preserve the wisdom, so it would be available for others in the future to know how they too can come out of pain, and realize their oneness with the universal. This was the original intention. Patanjali put them into very brief and succinct sutras, a form that could be past down as mantras, we could say, from one generation to the next in an oral tradition.

Many of the people today in our country who are teaching yoga and yoga philosophy, they are the ones that are preserving the teachings for future generations.

Rama Vernon article – Response to NYT – Bring the Breath back to yoga

BRING THE BREATH BACK TO YOGA
by Rama J. Vernon
The recent article in the New York Times entitled “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body” may be a blessing by opening a conversation about Yoga. For years, those of us who are the ancient veterans of Yoga in America, who have been practicing and teaching since the 1950s when people confused Yoga with Yogurt, have been concerned over the new fitness direction that Yoga has taken in this country.
Let’s face it. The term Yoga has been hijacked. The author of the article, Mr. Broad, is narrowly defining yoga according to his experiences with his injured yoga teacher, Mr. Black. For those of us who have been enlightened by Yoga for nearly six decades with no injuries to self or others, the article was horrifically corrosive. After reading it, I was worried about the risks of getting out of bed or of walking. I could shorten a hamstring without realizing it! But what about the risks of sitting at a computer all day and incurring repetitive stress injuries. Where can we go? There is nowhere to hide, not even in the inner sanctums of Shavasana, the corpse pose.
No mention was made in the article of varying methodologies of Yoga. All paths and lineages were painted with the same brush. Indra Devi, Swami Sivananda, Pattabhi Jois and Mr. Iyengar although very different from one another, are lumped together from their early teachings in the mid-20th century.
As I discovered over the past 55 years, Yoga is a way of “Being” not just doing. It is the exploration of what Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita calls inaction within an action. It is the essence and means to quiet the waves of the mind. When the waves are still, as Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras say, “The Seer and the Seen become One.” Perhaps it would be more accurate to say, “They realize the oneness that already is. “
In the l950’s, 60’s and even in the 70’s Yoga was still intact. However in the late 70’s, Yoga began to slip into a mode of physical exercise. The old English prefix ‘ex’ means to project outward. Instead of exercise, perhaps it is more accurate to view Yoga as ‘innercise.’ To experience Yoga as an ‘innercise,’ it is important to bring the breath back into our practice, and teaching, and allow it to move our body organically into a pose.
Swami Satchidananda, founder of Intregral Yoga and a disciple of Swami Sivananda Saraswati of Rishekesh was once asked if he was a Hindu. He thought quietly for a moment and then answered slowly and pensively, “I like to think of myself not as a Hindu but more as an “Undo.” What a revelation! There is nothing to do but undo. Instead of “doing” Yoga, perhaps it would be more accurate to say we are “undoing” through Yoga.
As the essence of all Yoga is to ”still the waves of the mind,” if we practice asana rapidly without breath, we create more restlessness, the opposite of Yoga. The breath, not the teacher or the clock, is the gage as to when it is time to come out of the pose. If the breath is erratic and staccato it is time to “slowly” exit the pose.
In l970, I was asked to give a talk and demonstration of Yoga to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s cabinet ministers. The presentation was well received and afterward some of the cabinet ministers said, you looked so relaxed, you didn’t even look as if you were in pain. You actually looked as if you were enjoying it.” I was stunned. “Yoga helps us to come out of pain not create more,” I finally replied. “Yes, I do enjoy it, it is my communion with God.” They were astounded. Mrs. Gandhi’s Yoga teacher who was in attendance was fascinated and then offered to demonstrate how he practiced Yoga. He grabbed his leg and forcefully put it on his opposite thigh and then grimaced and grunted with pain as he forced the opposite foot over into Padmasana, the Full Lotus. Yes, even the Indians can have stiffness in hips and legs. There are different approaches, I realized that day, and that this
approach could lead to injuries and dismissed it as a potential practice. He was surprised that my approach did not create but helped to heal peoples’ past injuries.
If our lives are not evolving from the practice of Yoga, perhaps we need to change our practice and our teachers. This New York Times article is a wake-up call for the Yoga teaching community to slow down, and re-evaluate one’s teaching and practice style and perhaps contemplate bringing the breath back into Yoga.
Years ago, I hosted Indra Devi as well as Mr. Iyengar. I went to Indra Devi’s class. She did not just teach Yoga…she WAS Yoga. Her presence filled the room casting a mantle of light upon us all. I realized that as teachers, we need to keep our connection to the Divine. It is the unspoken that touches the hearts and minds of the students far more than the technique. Her presence was a reminder of Why we were practicing Yoga..not just How.
It is not Yoga that creates strokes in relatively young and healthy people but the way in which they practice with rapid movements and no preparation which leads to spinal (and neck) compression rather than elongation. The author wrote of Mr. Iyengar emphasizing in the Cobra arching the neck as far back as possible. However, the neck should not be forced back in any pose as it creates cervical compression and restricts the circulation from moving between the spinal cord and brain. I remember many years ago, Mr. Iyengar emphasizing the extension of the back of the neck, because Cobras do not throw their heads back and look up but drew their head back and elongate what would be the back of their neck. The eyes instead of looking upward would be drawn towards the back of the head and intently gaze straight ahead without wavering.
In the incidence of a college student who intensified his practice by sitting in Vajrasana on his heels for hours a day, his injury cannot be blamed on Yoga but on his own ambition and lack of discernment. Vajrasana is NOT a classical sitting pose for meditation.
The article also alludes to the Shoulderstand, as “tucking the chin deep into the chest. No! That is not the way it is practiced. In Sarvangasana, we bring the chest to the chin…not the chin to the chest. We roll the upper arms outward affixing the outer elbows to the earth. “This is a SHOULDER stand…not a NECK stand,” Mr. Iyengar would say. Known as Sarvangasana, meaning the whole or entire parts of the body, the Shoulderstand is commonly referred to as the Queen of Asana (The Headstand is the King) and is known to affect and benefit every gland, organ and system of our body. It affects the physical as well as subtle body. The article mentioned it stimulates the thyroid. No, it does not unless the thyroid is hypoactive. Sarvangasana balances the thyroid rather than stimulate it. Matsyasana, the fish pose is the one that is stimulating to the thyroid and is excellent for those with hypoactive (underactive) thryroid. The fish without the shoulderstand first, can be over stimulating to the nervous system because of the affects to the adrenaline glands. Those of us who have practiced these poses for half a century can testify that it balances the thyroid and parathyroids which are responsible for our metabolic processes and metabolism of calcium.
In Shoulderstand, the 7th cervical vertebra eventually does not even touch the mat. Sarvangasana is known to prevent strokes and heart attacks as well as alleviate neck and shoulder tension. It beneficially affects the cerebellum which doesn’t only coordinate muscles but is what the Yogis call the seat of the subconscious mind. Mr. Broad also relates this pose to the thalamus gland. However, the thalamus which relays sensory messages to the outer brain also relates to subtle energy center that awaken our conscious to vaster states of awareness. The thalamus which holds a blue print of every cell of the body sits above the hypothalamus which is now known as the master endocrine gland. Perhaps one day the thalamus may be recognized as the true master endocrine gland that regulates all others under its hierarchical structure. This gland relates to the crown chakra and is impacted by Sirshasana, the Headstand, far more than the Shoulderstand.

In relation to Sarvangasana, the article refers to the pons, attributing only the role it plays in respiration. It does, but it is also the switchboard or relay center between the spinal cord and the brain. When there is compression or tension in this area, we see the aging process in the slowing down of the reflexes. Sasrvangasana preserves the youthfullness of the reflexes. The area of the pons where the spinal cord meets the base of the brain is known as the medulla oblongata. This is the area that Swami Paramamahamsa calls the “seat of the soul.” Within the arena of the “back brain” is what is known in the Yoga Sutras as the “Cave of Brahma,” the creator.
Sarvangasana is a pose of meditation where the heart is above the head, which the Yogis relate to the ego. In it, the ego is humbled and the heart reigns supreme over the mind, if only for a short time. This is an extraordinary pose that also elongates the carotid sinus and arteries and can diminish excessive plaque which instead of creating, can actually help prevent strokes and heart attacks.
Sarvangasana increases circulation of blood, lymph and cerebral spinal fluids. The article states concerns for the basilar artery which arises from the union of the two vertebral arteries that feed the pons. He references that reduction in blood flow to the basilar artery has been known to produce a variety of strokes. In a correct shoulderstand, there is no pressure upon the basilar artery, but the pose can benefit its circulatory flow.
In referring to the woman of 28 who suffered a stroke while attempting Urdva Dhanurasana which is correctly known as the “Upward Bow.” It is not the wheel, which is something different. Again depending upon the teaching, the head is not placed on the floor as this can induce compression in the neck if the arms are weak and the shoulders are not flexible. In any pose the neck is never compressed or arched. Again, what were the instructions? What was trying to be achieved? What is being promoted in the name and of Yoga? There is also no mention of the impact of pharmaceutical drugs and the effects of legal or illegal drugs ingested into the system. How do we know the condition of the people getting injured?
Please Mr. Broad and Mr. Black, do not blame Yoga but look to the teachers’ interpretation of what they call Yoga. Many years ago a group of long-time teachers came to Swami Satchidananda voicing their concerns over the direction that Yoga was taking in this country and how it was taught as aerobic exercise that would eventually lead to injuries. Swamiji was pensive and then said, “You must trust…trust in Yoga”. Thank you for opening this discussion that will allow everyone in the Yoga community to stop and take a big breath.

www.ramajyotivernon.com

Lisa Feder : Pranayama Nadi Shodina

East Side Yoga teacher Lisa Feder speaks about the technique and effects of nadi shodina. Try this pranayama before bed or any time you need some softening energy. Thank you Lisa!

Pranayama : Lisa Feder

Back for part two! Here Lisa talks us through the practice of ujjayi breathing. This breath is called on a lot in different yoga classes and you may not quite know what the teacher is trying to get you to do. Here Lisa gives you an easy way to access this breath at the back of the throat. Try it out at your desk, in the car, or wherever really!

~Much love East siders!
jaime