Category Archives: Yoga General

Meditation Workshop with Chase Bossart Recap

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A couple weeks ago, I took a workshop with Chase Bossart, whom I had never met until the workshop. Despite not knowing anything about him, I took the workshop because of one word in its title: meditation. (The full title is: Beyond Sequencing, The Art of Meditation.)

Chase was funny, witty, and most of all, knowledgeable. The man knows what he’s doing, and he knows what he’s talking about.

To start off nice and easy, Chase asked us, “What is meditation?” You know, a warm-up question, really. I think I may have given a smart-ass answer, something along the line of, “Meditation is me sitting on a cushion thinking about what I’m gonna do after I’m done sitting on a cushion.” Chase had a much better definition: “meditation is giving the mind its best form. Meditation is the crown jewel of yoga.”

He then gave a very convincing reason to meditate: if you see things as they are, you’re more likely to react appropriately. Meditation is where the mind facilitates perception as clearly as possible.

I’m sold, Chase, where do I sign up?

Well, I’m already signed up, not just for the workshop, but for a lifetime of meditation. The trick is, but how? And how is what we did the whole weekend, investigating sequences, concepts, and methods of meditation from a Classical and Viniyoga perspective.

Since then, I’ve incorporated what I learned in my own practice and teaching, and I’m glad I got the chance to meet Chase, and I’m sure I will see him again in the near future. He lives in the Bay Area, and travels to the Yoga Shala of Portland frequently to teach.

A Call for Help to Advertise Cadaver Lab Course for Yoga Teachers and Body Workers

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Hey everybody,

I’m writing about the Cadaver course at Bastyr University again to stimulate interest for those who haven’t heard of it, and remind those who have. I’m also asking for your help to let the whole town know about it.

What this is

As a yoga teacher I consider it my moral obligation to continue to learn about the human body and how it functions. I’m coordinating this because I wanted to further my own education in human anatomy, and after searching around, I found the Cadaver Lab course at Bastyr University.

In communication with the course director I found out that they are no longer taking public registration due to poor attendance. Because I want to take the cadaver course, I asked if they would hold the course if I could pull together enough people. I was also lucky enough to get a small discount for anyone taking the class.

So, I am most definitely not “hosting” this course, per se. In other words I’m not making money from it, and I’m definitely not teaching it. I am trying to find enough people who would also like to take it with me.

How it works

There will be a total of three sessions of 4 hours each for a total of 12 hours. You can take each session individually, or you can take the whole thing for a 5% discount.

  • The cost Bastyr charges per hour is $35, making it $140 per session.
  • The cost with discount is $399 instead of $420 for the whole course.
  • Each session is 4-hour long, from 1-5 p.m., on Saturdays October 2, 9, and 16, 2010.
  • All sessions are taught by a qualified instructor from Bastyr University on their campus in Kenmore, Washington.

I was told that since this is a custom course, we will be able to request the area of focus. You will have a direct say over what we closely look at. Please take a look at my original post for more info on the Cadaver Course Benefits, Description and Outline.

How you can help

We currently have 5 people (including myself) and only need one more person to start the October 2nd class. The minimum is 6 people, and maximum is 10. We have two signed up for the whole course, and need three more for each session. Please consider joining us for the show to go on. If you can join for all three sessions, it’s even better.

Again, there is absolutely no profit intention behind this, purely educational. I do not have a budget for advertising, and I’m asking for word of mouth help from you. Please help me reach out to the greater Puget Sound area (and perhaps even beyond).

Please direct them to the URL nikkiyoga.com/CadaverLab. Please tweet or post the link to this from your blog, Facebook page, or website. I can be emailed at nikki @ nikkiyoga.com.

Many grateful thanks.

“I now have a deeper understanding of what a body is and what a miracle life is.” – a quote from the Bastyr Cadaver Course website.

Optimal Health: Mental, Psychological & Spiritual Goals with Gary Kraftsow

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Tomorrow, I’ll be pulling myself out of bed at the crack of dawn, make some coffee, and head over to my friend Olivia Esuabana’s house. We will then make a 3-hour road trip to Portland, Oregon to see Gary Kraftsow, who’s been there all week doing a workshop on Optimal Health from a Viniyoga perspective.

I’m not trained in the Viniyoga tradition, but I greatly appreciate Gary’s book Yoga for Wellness, not to mention TKV Desikachar’s The Heart of Yoga, where I saw pictures of Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya’s for the first time, with whom–I was excited to find out– I share the same birthday.

I wanted to go see Gary after I read an article about him for my 500-hour teacher training titled Radical Healing as we discussed the pancha maya kosha model. After looking at his schedule for the next couple years, I realized that Portland would be the closest for me. So, two sleepy yoga girls will be on our way, cruising down and up Interstate 5 tomorrow, to see what Gary has to say to us about mental, psychological, and spiritual goals.

Myself, I’m most interested in hearing about facing death. In fact, it’s a big reason why I’m going. Death is inevitable, yet it’s not often talked about. Finding joy is not particularly a challenge for me these days. When I wake up in the morning safe and sound in warm bed with a roof over, and there’s hot running water, indoors plumbing, and toilet paper, life is awesome.

From the Shala Yoga of Portland website:

OPTIMAL HEALTH – The Viniyoga Perspective
with Gary Kraftsow

Saturday, July 31, 10:00am – 1:00pm & 2:30 – 5:30pm

Experience the methods to improve attention, focus, listening, and memory. Discover tools to increase self-confidence, self-esteem, tolerance, compassion, and discrimination. Discussion will include “spiritual” goals including finding joy, finding purpose, and facing death.

The Day I Did “Real Yoga”

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I have had a really hard day of traveling, starting off with a mobile boarding pass crashing, some poor planning on my part, some technology failure, long lines at the airport, missing a flight, working with the general anxiety of the consequences of running around worrying about the potential fees I’d have to pay, wondering when I’d be able to come home, all the plans I had made based on a flight depature and arrival time, etc.

Two weeks ago something similar happened. I was having a really difficult morning, driving to a part of the city where I didn’t know there was going to be a huge street fair, where you had to wait and sit in long lines of people and cars for hours just to move two inches. It was not a big deal, in the sense that nothing really tragic happened, no one died, no one’s house burned down. It was just me sitting in my car wanting to be somewhere else, not wanting to be stuck, thinking of the things I coulda shoulda woulda done to not have ended up here.

That day, and today, are the days I do “real yoga.” It’s often said that yoga is about becoming one with the divine. I think that yoga, or at least the test of my progress in yoga, is what happens when things “go wrong”, or in other words, shit hits the fan. Pema Chodron says that we’re always working with our “potential to be bothered”, the times when we don’t feel all that “light and love and the source of truth in your heart.”

All there is, or was, is a sense of tremendous unease, discomfort, a frustration, a nervousness, restlessness, rage, impatience. When I was stuck in the street fair and desperately wanted to be elsewhere (the World Cup final), every time that I had to put my foot on the gas pedal, I wanted to step on the gas pedal twice as hard. This morning, I wanted to scream at all the people in front of me at the airport, “stupid technology”, and my stupid phone. Everybody was stupid and everything sucked.

Well, almost.

For sure, I had those moments and thoughts. I also had moments of catching myself throwing what the authors of Buddha’s Brain call the “second darts.”

“First darts are unpleasant to be sure. But then we add our reactions to them. These reactions are “second darts”–the ones we thorw ourselves. Most of our suffering comes from second darts.”
Rick Hanson with Richard Mendius. The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love & Wisdom. Page 50.

When I became aware of what was happening, I called it out, “Oh yeah, this is fear, this is being frustrated as hell.” To me, this is what my yoga practice is really becoming about. It’s about the ability to go through really uncomfortable situations differently than if I didn’t do yoga at all. It’s not so much about ecstatic bliss and melted heart and unbounded love, the kind of love that soft drink commercials speak of.

Years ago I randomly picked up In Buddha’s Kitchen at a library sale, a book about a woman’s experience cooking in a Buddhist Monastery in Northern California (of course, right? ;) ). I remember a line a lama in the book said, “Anger is when someone shoots a thousand arrows at you, and angry is when you pick them up and stab yourself.”

I know I have gotten super good at stabbing myself, not just with an angry arrow, but with guilt, fear, judgement, impatience, etc., the whole enchilada, really. So yoga, however deep its roots or intricate its philosophy, however “real” or watered-down some of us debate about, really boiled down to something pretty simple for me today: can I stand in a long line at the airport not knowing which flight I could get on, and know that I’m breathing in and breathing out?

Thai Yoga Massage and Reflexology with Eric Spivack

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This weekend, I’m taking a workshop on Thai Yoga Massage and Reflexology for the feet and lower legs with Eric Spivack, who’s a certified Thai Massage and Viniyoga instructor.

I don’t have any intention of becoming a massage therapist or doing Thai Yoga massage, but I do have a long-running fetish for learning as much as possible about the anatomy, physiology, and energetic quality of the feet. The feet seem to be something of a forgotten area for most people, and I guess in a way it makes sense because most of us are encouraged to live in our heads, and the feet are the furthest away from the head.

I wanted to learn about the energy meridians and Sen lines. I want to understand why the ancient people thought parts of the feet had any correspondence with the rest of the body and the internal organs.

I’m finding that I’m not as “satisfied” with getting all my questions answered in this workshop. Maybe I am too much in my head :) . Maybe this is the place to slow down my need to intellectualize everything. I would ask why, why, why, and Eric would gently tell me that this is not the scope of this class (he has a certification program, where I’m sure he goes into much more technical details.)

What I *am* getting, however, is a lot of practice giving and receiving foot massages, and my feet are singing hallelujah right now. I’ve also gained an appreciation for massage therapists and how hard they work. Giving massages is pretty intense for the body (who knew? ;) ).

I’m also getting a glimpse at the rich tradition and history of Thai Yoga Massage, from the times of the Buddha, starting with Dr. Jivaka Komarabhacca, or Doctor Shivago (*not* Zhivago, for you smart asses ;) ). I learned the Pali prayer or invocation before a practitioner touches the body of a client, which is:

Om namo Shivago silasa ahang karuniko sapasatanang osata tipa-mantang papaso suriya-jantang. Gomalapato paka-sesi wantami bantito sumethasso arokha sumana-homi.

Piyio-tewa manussanang piyo-proma namuttamo piyo nakha supananang pininsiang name-mihang namo puttaya navon-navien nasatit-nasatien ehi-mama navien-nawe napai-tang-vien navien. Mahaku ehi-mama piyong-mama namo puttaya.

Na-a na-wa rokha payati vina-santi.

It roughly translates to:

We invite the spirit of our founder, the Father Doctor Shivago, who comes to us through his saintly life. Please bring to us the knowledge of all nature, that this prayer will show us the true medicine of the Universe. In the name of this mantra, we respect your help and pray that through our bodies you will bring wholeness and health to the body of our client.

The Goddess of Healing dwells in the heavens high, while mankind dwells in the world below. In the name of the Founder, may the heavens be reflected in the earth below so that this healing medicine may encircle the world.

We pray for the one whom we touch, that he will be happy and that any illness will be released.

Why Pali? It was the language of classical Buddhist texts, and Thai massage has a strong tie to Buddhism. In fact, Thai Medicine’s four major areas are:

  • Herbal medicine
  • Nutritional medicine
  • Spiritual practice – Theravada Bhuddism
  • Physical medicine – Thai Yoga Massage

I barely touched the tip of the iceberg this weekend, learning just a bit about Thai reflexology, but I’ll be putting it all to good use very soon. My mom is a hair dresser, and, as she stands on her feet all day, she suffers from a lot of pain in her feet. Given everything my mom has done for me, I’m hoping to show her how I appreciate all that by making her my guinea pig for practicing what I learned. :)

Dr. Shivago, the father of doctor of Thai Massage

Dr. Shivago, the father of doctor of Thai Massage

Seattle Yoga News – Sonia Nelson brings Vedic Chanting to Sound Yoga

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This weekend, there are two major events for me: 1) Learning Vedic chanting with Sonia Nelson, and 2) the US soccer team plays Ghana.

I’m two percent distressed that I won’t be able to do 2) due to timing and the scheduling of 1). That’s right, all weekend, from Friday night to Sunday afternoon, I’ll be worlds away from the 2010 World Cup, (though if the lunch break is between 11:30 and 1:30 PST, I’m running to the nearest Irish pub.)

I don’t know much about Vedic chanting, which is to say, I know next to nothing about Vedic chanting, other than chanting the Shanti Mantra during my 200-hr and 500-hr Yoga Teacher Training with teacher Kathryn Payne.

What is that, you ask? It’s a Yoga Student Teacher Prayer, also an invocation from the Katha Upanishad and the Taittiriya Upanishad, copied and pasted here for your perusing pleasure.

ॐ सह नाववतु |
सह नौ भुनक्तु |
सह वीर्यं करवावहै |
तेजस्विनावधीतमस्तु मा विद्विषावहै ||
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ||

om saha nāvavatu
saha nau bhunaktu
saha vīryaṃ karavāvahai
tejasvināvadhītamastu mā vidviṣāvahai
oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ

OM. Let both of us protect each other together
May both of us enjoy together
May both of us work together
Let our study become radiant, let there be no hatred between us
OM Peace, Peace, Peace.

I really like chanting, and, though doing it in a group is okay, my preference is learning the correct pronunciation of the Sanskrit words and chanting by myself. There seems to be a different feel to it. Kathryn told us that if we want to learn more about Vedic Chanting, Sonia Nelson is the teacher to work with, and I was excited to find out she’s coming to Seattle this weekend.

Here’s some info on Sonia Wilson from the Vedic Chant Center website:

Sonia Nelson, Director of the Vedic Chant Center, has been a student and teacher of Yoga and Vedic Chant for over twenty five years. As a student of T.K.V. Desikachar since 1975, Sonia is a Certified Teacher Trainer in association with the Krishnamacharya Healing and Yoga Foundation (KHYF)

And here’s the information on the Vedic Chanting workshop this weekend from the Sound Yoga website:

TRANSFORMATIVE CHANTING – CREATING CHANGE THROUGH SOUND with Sonia Nelson

Chanting is a powerful tool for discovering, expressing and influencing all dimensions of the human system. As a practice and study on its own chanting can help us to:

  • Improve our focus and memory
  • Build self confidence
  • Bring balance to our energy
  • Reduce mental and emotional agitation
  • Find our own voice

Combined with yoga practice, we can discover and forge new pathways between body, mind, and breath, infusing our relationship to yoga with new vitality.Taught step-by-step through listening and response, pure sound and simple chants from the Vedic and other traditions will be taught and then applied to asana, pranayama, and meditation. This integrated practice will encourage a new depth of experience helping to sustain our direction toward yoga as a process of transformation.

Brain Injuries, The Army, and Yoga

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This past Wednesday evening, being early for my 6pm class, I sat in my car listening to NPR, totally engulfed in a story about soldiers with brain injuries being left behind: With Traumatic Brain Injuries, Soldiers Face Battle For Care.

Traumatic brain injury is considered the “signature injury” of soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. An NPR and ProPublica investigation has uncovered the military’s failure to diagnose, treat and document brain injuries. Evidence suggests tens of thousands of soldiers are falling through the cracks.

“The system here has no mercy,” said Sgt. Victor Medina, a decorated combat veteran who fought to receive treatment at Fort Bliss after suffering a brain injury during a roadside blast in Iraq last June. Since the explosion, Medina has had trouble reading, comprehending and doing simple tasks. “It’s struggle after struggle.”

Previously, NPR and ProPublica reported that the military has failed to diagnose brain injuries in troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mild traumatic brain injuries, which doctors also call concussions, do not leave visible scars but can cause lasting mental and physical problems.

At Fort Bliss, we found that even soldiers who are diagnosed with such injuries often do not receive the treatment they need.

As I sat on the side road of 14th NE, outside of the Old Crown Hill Elementary School, drops of tears and mixed emotions came up, faded away, and came up again. I don’t much care for wars, to say the least. My dad was a prisoner of war, spending 4 years in a Communist concentration camp after the Vietnam War. His younger brother, my uncle, was driving home on New Year’s Eve to celebrate Vietnamese New Year with his family when a roadside bomb blew him to pieces. Bertrand Russell said, “War does not determine who is right – only who is left”. The ones who are left are left with a lot of scars.

Looking into it some more, I found that NPR has done a series of investigations, titled, Brain Wars, How The Military is Failing its Wounded. The Military, in response, has started issuing “talking points” in defense. Regardless of who should take the blame, this story has got me wondering, What can we do? What can *I* do?

Naturally, I thought of yoga, but I am well aware that I’m thinking of yoga because it’s my one hammer, and this is looking awfully like a nail. Treating everything as a nail just because you have a hammer is totally inappropriate. But really, who will step up when the soldiers of the largest and most powerful military are suffering with no end in sight? If we really did want to support the troops, how would we do that?

I’m now reminded of the first session in my 500-hour training, when we talked about the five koshas and  Yoga Teacher Gary Kraftsow’s experience with a tumor in his brain.

The cornerstone of Kraftsow’s practice is pancha maya, a model of the human system referenced in ancient Indian texts. According to this model, also known as the kosha model, we are comprised of five dimensions or layers: the physical body (annamaya), the breath or life force (pranamaya), the intellect (manomaya), the personality (vijnanamaya), and the heart, which is the seat of bliss (anandamaya). In the days leading up to surgery, Kraftsow plumbed every dimension of his being.

Using this model, we could look at how a soldier is affected by this whole experience through the five layers:

  • Annamaya kosha (physical body): “But in the weeks and months that followed, his mind began to fail him. He slurred his words, then started stuttering. An avid reader, he struggled to get through a single page. A punctilious soldier, he began showing up late for missions.”
  • Pranamaya kosha (energy body): Displaced energy. “He was fighting to get better, fighting to remain in the Army. He said he felt was being labeled a liar.”
  • Manomaya kosha (psycho-emotional body): “You have all these values that you live for and fight for. And you go to the medical side and you don’t see those values,” Medina said. “I can understand being injured by insurgents. But I can’t understand being injured by my own people.”
  • Vijnanamaya kosha (wisdom body): “When their efforts proved futile, they felt abandoned. Nobody paid attention, they said, to a soldier with an injury that nobody could see.”
  • Anandamaya kosha (spirit body): Separation from a sense of purpose of empowerment: “The way our philosophy is in this hospital … we took away their belief that they truly have something,” said the doctor, who did not want his name used for fear of retaliation from commanders. “I don’t think we gave them the opportunity to heal and that’s what I find really disgusting.”

Can Gary Kraftsow’s experience and teaching work for these forgotten soldiers? I don’t know. I’m not even really sure of where I’m going with this. I admit I don’t even know what to do or what could be done. I just… feel this mixture of empathy, frustration, motivation, burning responsibility to help turn things around, but not sure what, when, and how.

What do you guys think? Do you know of any effort out there? Any study? Anything? I know that the military has forayed into using yoga and qigong as a way to treat PTSD, but to what extent?

I should add that I’m not advocating for the style of yoga often seen in glossy magazine ads, as Gary Krafsow said:

The notion that yoga is an exercise regimen has become so entrenched in the West that nonpractitioners commonly shrug it off with: “I can’t do yoga. I’m not flexible.” Not only has yoga been reduced to asana, but asana has been reduced to stretching and what Kraftsow calls “self-chiropractic,” a fervid pursuit of textbook alignment. What he will tell you—and presently show you—is that yoga isn’t about getting to know the postures. It’s about getting to know yourself.

"War is over. If you want it."

"War is over. If you want it."

Guns N’ Roses, Fame, Marketing, and Yoga

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I had always figured the band name Guns N’ Roses was an arbitrary choice, depicting a certain image of a certain lifestyle and all that. Then, last week, I found out how they really got their name: it was from the names of the band members Axl Rose and Tracii Guns (hey, thanks Cary!). I had heard of Axl Rose, but Tracii Guns? Never until now. You sure learn something new everyday.

“That’s great”, you might be saying, “but what does this have to do with… uh… yoga?”

Among other things: fame. Actually, rock ‘n roll impacts a whole host of other things (like, have you noticed how all companies are hiring “rock stars” now?) For this post, though, I’ll keep it to just yoga.

Yoga and Rock ‘n Roll

Some of us want to be rich, some of us want to be famous, and some of us want to be rich *and* famous. Some of us want to be rich *and* famous via yoga. Nothing inherently weird about that, of course. You gotta have ambition. You gotta be driven by something. You gotta pay the bills.

What’s not cool is when the desire for fame trumps other things, especially when those other things are the very things we preach. Since I got here, I’ve continued to witness and hear stories in the yoga world that completely baffle me. “Welcome to the biz,” my teacher said sympathetically to me when I confided in her about an event that affected me recently.

There was a time when I was more starry eyed about being on the yoga planet, when the thought of being around world famous jet-setting yoga teachers gave me a certain excitement. There was a time when I romanticized what it’d be like to “be a rap superstar / And live large / a big house, 5 cars /you’re in charge.” Thank God that time did not last very long. Thank God that time has passed. Let’s pray to God I won’t have a relapse (hey, it could happen.)

I’m not saying that the world famous yoga and meditation teachers out there are fame whores. Some of them got to be world famous because they are really good at what they do. They actually teach. They’ve got the goods, the important and substantial stuff. People go see them for what they have to say, not just for a photo opp or just so they can list their names on their yoga teacher bios. There are also some equally well qualified teachers who are less well know, who’ve chosen to stay out of the limelight, who have opted out of the yoga conferences and traveling gigs.

Yoga and Marketing

No matter who they are and how big their influence is, my guess is most, if not all, yoga teachers have to do some sort of PR & Marketing.

Some people think marketing is dirty, it’s evil and egotistical (and not, like, you know, “yogic”). Whatever you think it is, one thing I know for sure is that it’s an important and necessary part of running a business. As Paul Arden said in his book, which I like, It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Become:

Yes, of course, I am selling. But so are all of you. You are hustling and selling or trying to make people buy something. Your services or your point of view. The way you dress when going for an interview or a party, or merely putting lipstick on. Aren’t you selling yourself? Your priest is selling. He is selling what he believes in. God. The point is we are all selling. It is part of life. – page 119.

I’m saying this because I want to make it clear that I am all for marketing, I’m all for selling. As Rick Ross said, “Every day I’m hustlin’”.

What I am not all for is certain flavors of marketing, and I’m wary of a certain urge in the yoga world to be rock stars, to be associated with rock stars – or the celebriyogis – as they’re called, while undermining other things, and people.

For instance, I know of one yoga teacher who was asked to put more “famous” names in her bio because she only credits a teacher whom she works with locally. Another teacher in the area does not bother to list the name of the teacher she studies with regularly because this teacher is not a “name brand”, and opts for instead other recognizable-and presumably marketable- names.

Personally, I’ve been approached to publish things by people who don’t really seem to have any desire to know who I am and what I’m all about, but because my blog has made it to some list somewhere and is presumably popular. I’ve heard that if you take a training with a certain teacher, you must list this person’s name as the *first* teacher’s name in your bio, before mentioning any other people who influence you.

Yoga and Keepin’ It Real

Okay, yoga community, let me ask you a serious question: what the fuck? (Excuse my French.)

How have we gotten here? Yes, we’re all trying to get more students, grow our business, and making a buck or two. And yes, as long as we are humans, we’re going to make mistakes. We’re going to do things we regret. We’re going to do things we’re not so proud of in hindsight. (Trust me, I know what that’s like, I’m a frequent shopper there.) Still, guys, that’s really no excuse to perpetuate this bullshit. (French is such a beautiful language, n’est-ce pas?)

I probably sound angry in this post. I’m not. I’m catching up on the latest podcast of Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me as I write this. And if you anything about this show, you know that one can’t be angry for too long while listening to it. I do, however, feel the need to call out some of the things I’ve seen and heard.

We are all just hustlin’ and jugglin’ and makin’ a living, and all’s fair in love and war. But this is, you know, Yoga! We are supposed to do things like, find our true selves, and, be authentic and all that. As a start, with all the namasteing we say, wouldn’t it behoove us actually pay respect to someone we study with, even if they’re not the latest headliner for Wanderlust of Bhakti Fest or whatever making waves at the moment? How can we preach the message to “Find your truth” if we can’t even face up to our own?

As at odd as I may be with the current state of the industry, the practice of yoga works for me, and I want to keep at it until it no longer does (it could happen). It’s a privilege to pass on what I’ve learned to those who will benefit from it. So, whatever I learn on the business side becomes a personal lesson, and vice versa. I’ve gone and rambled about “other people” in this post. But really, writing in my blog and moan and whine to whomever will listen is pretty much all I can do.

I’m not going to change anybody much, if at all (tried that with a couple ex-boyfriends, did not work, learned my lesson). What it boils down now is for me to be vigilant in my own business conduct, and having the awareness that the seduction of fame is oh-so-potent, so much so that it’s even got some very learned and long time yoga practitioners sucked in in its engine. I’d write more, but I need to go work on my World Domination plan now. Please contact my agent for comments (er… you know, by clicking on the Comment link below ;) ).

Bonus: Here’s a fantastic crash course in PR using Social Media.

Have you seen my feather boa?

Have you seen my feather boa?

Dr. Robert Svodoba, Dr. Scott Blossom, and Dr. Claudia Welch at 8 Limbs Yoga

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This weekend I’m spending Saturday and Sunday in a workshop with Dr. Robert Svoboda & Dr. Scott Blossom, and Dr. Claudia Welch at 8 Limbs Yoga in Seattle. Today was the first day, where we first listened to a talk by Dr. Svodoba about the nature of prana, then Scott Blossom lead us through a practice, which was very Shadow Yoga-ish, and then Dr. Welch guided us through an exercise of paying attention to prana.

Here are there of my favorite sayings from them today:

  • Scott Blossom: “We’ve got to have ha-tha, not just ha-ha, or tha-tha.”
  • Claudia Welch: “Daily, unbecoming something is a very useful practice.” (She told a fable demonstrating how we “become” something, or somebody, and get attached to it, which brings us pain.)
  • Robert Svodoba: “The challenge is to surrender to the pace of the body.” “I don’t know about you, but I’d rather run around as a chicken with my head on.”

Here’s the description of the workshop from the 8 Limbs Yoga’s website, pasted here for record, because 8 Limbs does not archive this information.

“The cultivation of prana has always been achieved through simple and uncomplicated movements” – Zhander Remete

How is it that master yogis can perform extraordinary feats of physical and mental flexibility and stamina effortlessly? And what does developing these kinds of abilities have to do with becoming a wise and compassionate person?

Yoga traditions both Indian and Taoist view the life force, known as prana or chi, as the foundation of the body and mind. Both systems offer us simple ways for understanding, feeling, and cultivating this power within us. Though one may develop some degree of physical ability, without understanding prana the deeper aspects of yoga will remain dormant.

The ancient hatha yoga texts offer direct insight into how we can practice yoga to align ourselves with the currents and rhythms of our prana. From this perspective yoga practice becomes not only a way to live in greater harmony with the laws of the physical body and world but as well a means to recognize the power of our minds and hearts.

Join Dr. Robert Svoboda, Dr. Scott Blossom, and Dr. Claudia Welch for a weekend of vinyasa yoga and Ayurvedic insight into how to live in harmony with our prana on and off the mat. This will likely be Dr. Svoboda’s last public appearance in Seattle before he retires from public speaking.

Schedule:
Saturday: 12:30 – 4:30pm & 6:30 – 8:30pm
Sunday: 12:30-4:30

Robert E. Svoboda is the first Westerner ever to graduate from a college of Ayurveda and be licensed to practice Ayurveda in India. A student of the Aghori Vimalananda, and the author of more than a dozen books, he lectures and consults around the world.

Scott Blossom is a Traditional Chinese Medical practitioner, Shadow Yoga teacher, and Ayurvedic Consultant. He has been studying yoga for over eighteen years and teaching for twelve. His primary teachers are Zhander Remete, founder of Shadow Yoga, and Dr. Robert Svoboda.

A Doctor of Oriental Medicine, Dr. Welch began her study of Ayurveda in 1987, under the tutelage of Dr. Robert Svoboda. Prior to coming to New Mexico, Claudia spent three years in India studying Ayurveda and related subjects, and after arriving in New Mexico, studied for many years with Dr. Vasant Lad.

Halp! Basement cat's turning 90% hooman!

Halp! Basement cat's turning 90% hooman!

State of The Union in Nikki Yoga News, March 2010

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Here in Seattle, there’s an indie alternative newspaper called The Stranger, wherein there’s a column called Last Days, which accounts for notable news of the last days in the last week, and it’s the inspiration for this blog’s format in Nikki Yoga News (NYN).

My Heart Will Go On

  • The 2nd installment of Intro to Yoga at Taj Yoga is off and running, starting Wednesday March 3, 2010, from 6:00 – 7:15pm. As always with Intros, for the next 7 weeks I will take the students through a rousing round of the different types of yoga postures, breath work, and dabble into the philosophy of what makes yoga, well, yoga. I’m glad to see new faces as well as familiar old ones from the previous Intro session. It’s always a ton of fun to get to work with students for an extended amount of time.
  • The 10th, yes, 10th! session of my 500-hour Yoga Teacher Training at Pacific Yoga came and went this past weekend of March 5-7, 2010. That means there are only 2 sessions left and I’ll be a 500-Certified Yoga Teacher (CYT). Big excitement! Big responsibilities! What does this 500 CYT business mean? It means I’ve gone through a certain amount of training that meets the Yoga Alliance standards at the 500-hour level [PDF].
  • Cora Wen, a long-time yoga teacher who has been tagging the world with headstands, or sirsasana, came to Seattle on Thursday March 4, 2010, and we got to hang out and had big fun talking about The State of the Yoga (Union). Har, har. I’ve gotta go for those cheap jokes when I can, ya know. Cora and I met up with Karen Lindenberg, owner and teacher of Phyzz Yoga, and we did some Down Dogs against the Seattle skyline at Volunteer Park.
  • Then, a little virus caught up with me on Friday. All those days of having fun in the sun and “we go deep and we don’t get no sleep ’cause we be up all night until the early light” caught up with me. Throw in some questionable milk at a coffee shop, and I was done for. Being sick has always given me perspectives on appreciating exactly what is, and that my health is my wealth.

Somewhere Out There

  • I’m starting the next Yoga for Newbies series at Village Green Yoga this Thursday, March 11, 2010, from 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm. Hooray! I’ll be looking forward to new and familiar faces there.
  • This weekend, March 13 and 14, 2010 I’ll be back assisting the fabulous trio of Theresa, Kathryn, and Paul at the Pacific Yoga 200-hour Teacher Training.
  • I’m starting a new class called Yoga Happy Hour at Taj Yoga, where the emphasis will be more on working with the breath and doing restorative yoga poses. It’s on Friday afternoons from 5:30-6:45pm. As you know, starting anything new is a little bit of a risky adventure, and I’m trying to see if this time slot will work. I’m asking for your help to please let all your friends who live and work in the Crown Hill/Ballard/North Seattle area know!

Always On My Mind

  • Many, many projects are swirling around in my head right now. I’m feeling awfully creative. My right brain is seriously working over time right now. I’m interviewing local yoga teachers in a Support Local Yoga Teachers project. If you are a yoga teacher, please let me know if you would like to be interviewed!
  • I’ve been designing greeting cards and shirts in the theme of tongue-and-cheek quirky sayings.
  • The 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training has started at Pacific Yoga, and what a privilege it is for me to get to assist teachers Theresa Elliott in Asanas, Kathryn Payne in Pranayama, and Paul Bubak in Anatomy. It’s also great fun for me to get to know the next class of yoga teachers.

All I Have To Do Is Dream

  • Spring is around the corner, and I’ll be teaching a workshop for a Smoother Sun Saluation at Village Green Yoga on Saturday, March 27, 2010. 9:30 – 11:30 am.
  • I’m officially enrolled in the Traditional Yoga Studies 800-hour Distance Learning Course on the History, Literature, and Philosophy of Yoga, written and designed by Georg Feuerstein. I’ll be starting this after my graduation from the 500-hour Training in May.
  • I’m really enjoying teaching Yoga for Climbers at Stone Gardens climbing gym, and looking for ways to create videos for my climbing homies from far-away. Mini-vids are in the work, oh yeah.
  • I am actively working on another series of interviews and biographies on the senior and pioneer yoga teachers in the Pacific Northwest. If you have any information on any teachers who started teaching in the 60s and 70s, or even earlier, please, please let me know.
Drive, Reverse, Neutral, Park, Drive, Reverse, Neutral, Overdrive, Neutral...

Drive, Reverse, Neutral, Park, Drive, Reverse, Neutral, Overdrive, Neutral...