…or something more?  Are we missing the deeper message?

As I read the philosophy of the esteemed teacher, Mr. Glenn Black, whose classes I have had the privilege of taking, I am confused and I must say disheartened. I too have been walking the path of Yoga for over 25 years. I, luckily, have had a much different experience. I have been fortunate to have very wise and skilled teachers, starting my practice at Integral Yoga with Swami Ramanda, then Amy Mathews, Richard Freeman and onto my greatest teacher Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen. I believe these teachers helped me to see the true form of Yoga and though, I will admit, I have found myself in the presence of teachers who taught a more western version of the practice, my body has always asked me to leave and I quickly found my way back home. For me, and I hope for my students, Yoga is lens we use to look deeply inside to see what we really need - whether those needs are physical, emotional or spiritual. I have walked along my life path with Yoga by my side. It has been my greatest companion and so, it has held me, educated me, challenged me, employed me, it has been where I have found my closest friends and has been my guide through the most difficult times in my life.

On a nuts and bolts level Yoga is about re-patterning and that occurs in the nervous system. Whether we are discussing muscle tissue or emotions. It is wise in that way. We as humans are not so wise. We push, pull and grasp just as it asks us not to do and then we blame Yoga. It has been my experience that in those moments we aren’t really doing Yoga but just using the asanas to live our lives they way we always have, in arrogance. Yoga is a way to see things differently, to find peace of mind and true grace. It asks us clearly to stop pretending and start accepting what is, to listen instead o demand. This could be getting real about our flexibility in our bodies or in our lives. What is the real truth of the matter and can we stop pretending that it is something different. These of course are the harder lessons that only a true friend can offer.

Bonnie my teacher has always explained to us that we must listen to the lessons the body is teaching. So, it is the deepest meditation where I am asked to stay present and keep my ego in check. I must wait patiently for an asana to blossom inside of me. When I do I am in true ecstasy and when I don’t…well Mr. Black has already covered that. The asanas unfold, they present themselves to us, and we find we are in them without ever knowing we were going there, very much like life. If an injury comes, and I won’t lie I have had mine, it has shown me my own arrogance not a flaw in the teachings but in my ability to listen to their wisdom. Each asana holds a lesson so we move slowly and with reverence through our practice, as it is truly sacred.

As a teacher I am in service. I have come to own my own studio and so I am in service of many. I must maintain my clear mind so I can see the movements in each of my students. This comes with time and skill. So I have had to get that much more honest about what I am doing. Teaching has required me to rise to a higher form of myself. It has demanded a deep understanding of myself so that I can serve others. Oddly, teaching is typically less about knowledge, though incredibly important, and more about presence. If the room is crowded we don’t move faster but deeper more slowly, we use the power of the group to hold the meditation we are all there to find…teacher included. It is the job of the teacher to empower the student to listen to their body and not to become dependent. Though this can feel good, as we all want to feel important and needed, it is an extreme disservice to our students. If they alone trust us how do they learn to walk alone to find the self-practice we are grooming them for?

I have worked privately most of my 25 years, typically with people who suffer from some type of physical malady. I have seen this sage practice heal so many and not only heal but deliver them to a place where they were better then where they were before they were injured. I have been with most of my clients for 7 plus years. So we can see Yoga is not a fad nor is it a religion. What it is-is an awakening. It demands that we stay conscious at all times and so it is a very challenging and perhaps not right for those who want to dabble. It is clearly not whether I can do a fancy arm balance..that is an insult to its wisdom, but instead whether we can listen deeply to ourselves and others. In the light of Yoga we find, as we get older we get better. We are more alive, more compassionate, more humble. We realize we  will never know anything and so we get to maintain our curosity about everything.

I will agree that yoga as a competition or for athletic advancement is a bastardization of this wise and golden practice. Yoga has never been that for me, or for my students. We have taken a far less popular road to a place to where we are sure we will never arrive… But we are so enjoying the journey.. Freedom!

Click Here for the NY Times Article about Glenn Black

And explore other opinions on the topic: 

Yoga Journal's Blog

Daily Beast with perspective from Pure Yoga teacher

When it comes to deciding whether we are happy or not where do we look to find the answer? What is the deciding factor on how happy we are.

Is it a matter of success or material things, love or not. No one can deny that real-life circumstances have a tremendous impact on our emotions. This may lead us to wonder why we feel so helpless. Our inner thoughts might run like this: “What’s wrong with me?” “Why do I let people affect me so?”, “If only (you fill in the blank) happens, then I will be okay”, “Why do I feel enslaved by my thoughts?”, or “Why can’t I just be happy? And what would it even look like if I was?”.

In all of these instances we are looking outward to heal what lies within. These were questions I often asked myself before I found the practice of meditation. Satisfied in our own lives by changing our attitude towards reality … not the reality itself.

Through my practice I learned to sit with my thoughts and myself. I found a way to allow the triggers to rise up and learned to employ a different response to them. I found the power of pause. In certain meditations I was able to give my life a clear direction and then when I got off my pillow, it was easier to step in that direction. It felt good to decide how I wanted my life to be, rather than being taken for a ride by the waves of my “life situation”. It felt good to be in charge of my own emotional world.

In January, Reflections will be holding an Winter Urban Silent Retreat , where we will introduce and develop the practice of mindfulness. Along with restorative and yoga classes, there will be sitting meditation and intention setting. There will be time to write and just be in the energy of our Kula (group). Join us for this powerful weekend where we are all gathering to bring 2012 in as a year that is set in deep clarity and highest of intentions.

This weekend is suitable for beginners

Does Paula’s story resonate with you? Do you think you might enjoy exploring the ways we move through life and how yoga and meditation can give us a new perspective on them? Take two days with Paula and Friends at our Winter Urban Silent Retreat, Jan 14 & 15 2012.

What if your un-loveable you was the part we liked the best?

I recently spent some quality time with a close friend. We cried, laughed and totally let our hair down. We got to know each other in a way that we hadn’t before. One night over a bottle of wine my friend told me that the part of me he liked the best was not my “with it” accomplished NYC yoga guru side, but the part of me that sometimes seemed frightened, unsure and vulnerable. One of the things he said went like this: “Spending time with you let me see you're not so slick. I like that so much more”.

Does Paula’s story resonate with you?  Are you ready to uncover your own personal path? Consider joining Paula in her 2 Hour TeleSeminar, Stepping Up To Life,  on January 12th, 2012 from 6:30-8:30pm 

It's time for some pampering!

I have been thinking about the idea of pampering. What is pampering, really? For me, it is nothing but an old term used to make women feel guilty for taking care of themselves when it is assumed they should be busy working, cooking, cleaning and… the list goes on.  “Pampering”, if you will, is a sign of self-respect. We may think of "treating ourselves" as doing things that are bad for us, like eating a few cookies or a pint of ice cream, or buying a super expensive pair of shoes. But here are a few things that are actually cheap, easy and make a big difference to your health and wellbeing:

Set your morning and night with a pause. In the morning, take 5 minutes to first connect with yourself. A 5 minute meditation is very important. It creates a healthy environment inside of you.

Do one thing in the middle of every day to remember yourself. Take a class, get a 15 minute massage, drink a healthy juice instead of a mid-day coffee.

At night, create a ritual of self-care. Cream your feet, give yourself a mini facial. Do something that is only for you.

Doing these small things will help you remember that you are valuable, important and worth being cared for.

Does Paula’s story resonate with you?  Are you ready for show yourself how much you care about… yourself?  Consider joining Paula on her Thanksgiving 2011 Detox Retreat to Paya Bay Resort in Roatan Honduras!!

Families are organic and remarkable. They are a place of deep love, bitter hatred and a myriad of other deep and real emotions. We all have a unique story that is our family and it is this story that we carry with us into virtually every other relationship we have — regardless of how much we spend on that fancy therapist! It is through our family that we have learned how to relate. Like stars forming patterns within proximity to one another, we create family constellations which later become the blueprint for all of our other relationships. We stay fixed in certain roles in order to maintain the constellation's detailed pattern; however, the success of our growth lies in our ability to allow these patterns evolve. This evolution takes place within our family as well as our new encounters.

 My niece and I have also shared a very unique and wonderful story. Our relationship has spanned many of life’s stages and evolved over time. I changed her diapers; we shared deep talks about life, school, sex, drugs and more!  She always came to me when she felt confused. I didn’t make it better, but I always told her “how it was”, and she trusted me. I wasn’t her mother; instead I was her super cool aunt! How I loved being just that.

Does Paula’s story resonate with you?  Are you ready for your own personal life transformation? Consider joining Paula in her Teleconference Course  Stepping Up to Life on July 17th.

What is the importance of practice?

As our lives progress we find that too often the same old story keeps recurring. Like a bad re-run, you can't seem to

change the channel, yet you know that the story will not have the hap

piest of endings. How can this be so when we want a new ending so badly. We want it with our whole heart from the deepest part of our souls!.  Perhaps the answer in not in the wanting, but in the action.

In many cases, I see the clients that come to me for  spiritual development over several years. In the best case they come, we work on the places they desire to change, they work deeply on their practice and something changes. More often they come, we work on the places they desire to change, they don't practice and they return with the same old story weeks, months or even years later. How can this be so? They showed up yearning for change!

The question is –  were they ready, truly ready, to do the work that is required to create such change?

The ancient sage Pantanjali tells us in the Yoga Sutras that "Practice creates change when well attended to, for a long time,
without break and in all earnestness".  The Sutras are a guide to life, so  how does this play out in our lives on and off the mat? Let's see…

Our life is a system of reactions or responses to recurring situations. If we want to change a reaction into a response we must sit with it deeply and work on the new, desired plan of action every day without fail! It is like learning anything, it takes practice. Learning to live the life we would like to live takes practice as well. IT WON'T JUST HAPPEN! You must be an active participant in life. If you want things to change you must be dedicated to creating what it is you want. It is easy really. You just need to show up without fail or, as Pantanjali would say, without break.

When the old habit rises up we must see it as that. We must stand firm and grounded in our new desire to live the life we want and the desire to live in a conscious response to the world around us. Now we are taking control and releasing the victim that we have created by our own acceptance of un-checked reactions or in my mind a life not fully lived.

In Practice:

We can’t change the world overnight … perhaps. But we can start by picking one small thing to work on. Attend to it every day without break in all earnestness and see what happens. Pick an easy one at first and apply these sage words. If it works, you will have the courage and commitment to take on another one, and then another, and then… You will be living your life instead of being a victim to that never ending re-run ! Change is in your hands… it is all in the action!

Does Paula’s story resonate with you?  Are you ready for your own personal life transformation? Consider joining Paula in her Teleconference Course Using the Sutras as Your Guide http://reflectionsyoga.com/types-of-workshops/taking-the-seat-of-the-teacher/ June 12th.

The yoga teacher training program that you select has the potential to truly change your life, mine did! It had such an effect on me that I quit my job and became a full time yoga teacher… not recommended so quickly! It was easier then and still I starved for a bit. No regrets though. It was by far the best thing I have ever done. Trainings are an investment of your time and money as well as in your personal growth. How do you find the right one for you?

Here are some guidelines to consider before saying “I do” and taking that first big step into the world of yoga…

Figure Out Who You Are

Make an honest wish list of all the things you hope to gain from this experience. What are your interests? Look at the classes and workshops you take. Be honest. Do you tend choose more technical classes? Do you prefer to flow through poses rather than concentrate on alignment? Taking stock will reveal more about who you are rather than who you might want to be.

Home or Away

Figure out how much time you can offer where you can be totally committed. Would you like to travel and if so where? this can help you narrow it down.

There are many wonderful programs all over the world. It might be a great opportunity to travel and learn Credentials A program is legit they are registered by the Yoga Alliance. If they are, you will find the Yoga Alliance logo on their site 200 or 500 Hour Levels In the 200 hour level training you get a lot of broad information that helps you get more clear of your path, but in order to specialize and fine tune you will want to continue with your training. It is best if your program has both 200 and 500 hour levels. This allows you to know that the program has been around for awhile and that if you like what you have learned you can go deeper into their philosophy. You will also find that you will find a family in a good training and the option of having a 500 hour program allows you the time to build these important relationships.

Application Process

The applications process is as much you picking the program as they selecting you. What types of questions do they ask? Do they require an interview? Essentially do they really want to know their applicants or are they just looking to have a large enrollment? Interview If there is one it is good opportunity to understand how your time will be spent. What are the particular interests of the program? Do you have a compatible feeling with the studio, its teachers and students? Cost Most trainings run between $3000-4000. Just because a training is linked with a big name doesn’t necessarily make it good, but it can make it more expensive. Sometimes the independent trainings will give you more time and access with the main teacher, which is what you want. Celebrity teachers tend to run their trainings a bit more impersonally and don’t provide a lot of opportunity for placement when you graduate.

What is Required of You

Find out upfront what will be required of you in addition to class hours so you know you can commit. Some trainings have a rigorous program after the course is completed and before you get your certificate. This is a good thing as it provides you more training but be sure you can offer the time.

Placement

A training that can place you or at least connect you with teaching opportunities is a huge bonus, however, it shouldn’t be the number one reason to choose or not choose a program. These are some guidelines in choosing the right training for you. It is important to know that all trainings will offer you the opportunity for growth if you let it. You are as much a part of your learning process as the teachers and studio.

Does Paula’s story resonate with you?  Are you ready for your own personal life transformation? Consider joining paula in her Honduras Teacher Training or Honduras Immersion Retreat in July.