And Now For Something Less Sexy: Yoga Injuries

Posted on July 28, 2010 by Nikki Chau

If you hang out in certain circles, this past week was full of drama. The way that some people talk about it, you would think there’s a deadlock in an international peace talk.

I am talking about, of course, the The Yoga Mogul article from the New York Times about Anusara Yoga’s founder John Friend, which has gotten the whole interwebs buzzing. A lot of people have said a lot of things about this, I won’t contribute to that conversation. If you’d like to know what’s being said, the world is at your fingertips, only a Google search away.

Instead, I’ll point out something also from the New York Times, also recently published, and got nowhere near as much buzz: yoga injuries. It’s a blog post titled: Stretch – When Yoga Hurts by Lizette Alvarez. Even though there isn’t nearly as much attention to this post specifically and topic in general, to me, it’s actually much more interesting, probably because it hits much closer to home. As a yoga practitioner and teacher, I am confronted with the issue of working with bodily pain–past, current, and potential–on a daily basis.

I appreciate this post very much, Lizette Alvarez, wherever you are out there, thank you.

Here are some excerpts that totally resonated with me:

Training for yoga teachers can vary, and classes are so large in some studios that instructors do not pay enough attention to everybody. In New York, many people approach yoga with a no-pain, no-gain mind-set, with predictable results.

…

“The most common form of injury is the overzealous student,” said Dr. Loren Fishman, a spine specialist, yoga teacher and medical director of Manhattan Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. “The second most common reason for injury is poor alignment, and that is usually crummy teaching.”

…

The best way to avoid injury, particularly if your body is creaky, is to take it slow and make sure to nail the fundamentals, experts said.

When I didn’t know any better, I’d crank into my lower back in Up Dog and push my pelvis as far forward as possible to create a backbend. I have been told “lock it, lock it, lock it” and then “and push and push and push.” I’ve been in classes where I haven’t even fully come into a pose before I’m asked to move on to next pose. And now, in the same situation, out of respect for the teacher, I would keep my mouth shut. For my own sanity, I just don’t go back to those classes. Out of sight, out of mind, so to speak. If I don’t see what’s happening, then it must not be happening!

I’m very well aware that there’s potential for injuries *anywhere*, no matter what style or tradition of yoga. Pain is inevitable. Complete safety is an illusion, no matter how hard we try. Yet, the difference is in the intention and the awareness, or lack thereof. I once panicked at a meditation retreat, confessing to a teacher that I stepped on a couple ants after I took the vow of no killing, no harming. The teacher asked if I had intentionally stepped on those ants. Was I aware of the possibility of me killing them?

I’ve occasionally wondered if some yoga teachers and students out there are aware of the possibility of injuries. For a long long time, I myself was not. For a long time, yoga was 100% good. It had all those good-feeling words, which could only produce good things: truth and light and love and peace and heart opening and bright conscience. (As an aside: you can make your own yoga buzzword with my yoga jargon generator.) When I went through a period of doing a lot of vinyasa flow yoga, I injured my wrists, and my brilliant plan was to go to class even *more*, since it clearly would help.

I know we live on a planet with a core temperature of something like 3000 degrees Celsius, spinning around a wobbly axis, hurling through space with asteroids and rocks slamming into each other. As Jim Morrison said, “No one here gets out alive.” At the same time, isn’t the practice of yoga meant to help us with living in whatever condition with more ease? And if so, why are we not more interested in creating more ease in the body through injury awareness and prevention?

The Value of Yoga and What We Are Willing to Pay For

Posted on July 3, 2010 by Nikki Chau

The week before last week, something came through my inbox that made me cringe for about 10 seconds. It was a deal from LivingSocial, the wildly popular site where you can get one wickedly awesome deal daily. The deal was for 20 sessions of Bikram yoga for $20 at a Bikram Yoga studio in Shoreline, a couple blocks away from where I live.

The Value of (Almost) Free Yoga

Something about this made me feel uncomfortable. Though I don’t know all the reasons that the feelings and sensations came up that way, I do know that I’ve been struggling with the issue of the value, or the perception of value, of yoga for a while. In my 500-hour teacher training, we had a session on the Business of Yoga where we talked extensively about the pros and cons of offering free yoga classes. One thing I walked away with was, there are different types of “free” yoga, and before jumping in and offering any kind of discount, we as yoga teachers need to be clear on what we are giving and receiving.

I know that we all value things differently, and how people spend their money is none of my business. I admit, though, that I’ve always find it funny that someone would say they can’t afford to pay for yoga, and yet would be happy to spend money on a frappuccino in the morning, another in the afternoon, and then a cocktail or two after work. And then you’d hear about them spending loads of money on diet pills and detox powder. It’s funny how our minds work in relation to things we deem as worthy of our hard-earned money.

In any case, I let that uncomfortable feeling go. You just cannot investigate every single feeling of unease in the world indiscriminately, and I felt like this was one battle I didn’t need to pick and get worked up over.

The Value of Public Transportation

A few days later, I misplaced my Orca card, which is a public transportation pass for buses and trains around the Puget Sound. I was really bummed that I didn’t get to use it when I needed it, and even more bummed that I had to now pay extra for the bus. For the first few times, I would try to plead with the bus driver to let me ride for free, since technically I already paid with my card, I just didn’t have it with me.

Then, it occurred to me that I was a hypocrite.

If you live in this area, you *know* that the traffic we have is atrocious. I myself take the bus partly out of what I call the Green Guilt, and party to preserve my stress and blood pressure level. It is an understatement to say that we *all* hate traffic and would love to do away with it all. And yet, we are not always willing to walk the talk and help make it better.

As a region, we debate about money to death and some of us get very upset about paying more taxes to fund better public transportation options. As a proponent of public transportation I will readily admit that I choose to drive to certain places because our bus system simply does not meet my needs. You would think that I would be willing to pay more to change that. But no, I was haggling with bus drivers over the fact that I didn’t want to pay an extra two dollars and fifty cents, and then I would get off the bus and pay the same amount for a tea bag that’s been marked up a gazillion percent.

I thought about how silly I was, that on the one hand, I want people to see that value of yoga classes, that what you pay is what you get, and on the other hand, I was being so petty about putting more money in a system that I use everyday. This thought made me laugh at myself while sitting on the bus one afternoon.

The Value of Accessibility

This whole analogy may not be the best one out there. I may have drawn some parallels that may be more like crooked lines at best. I know there’s a whole complicated issue of government subsidy and taxes, etc. It doesn’t matter. My point here is, I’m starting to see that yoga, like everything else, has a perceived value in people’s mind, and I would not do myself, my students, and my colleagues, any service by doing things that would devalue it.

My friend David Tolmie (hi Dave!) said that public transportation should be accessible to all, as should yoga, and I tend to agree. So the question is, how do we make it so that something is accessible, and yet still valuable? There has to be an equal exchange of energy. I am willing to pay a lot of money, over and over again, for yoga training, and I know many other teachers do too. How do we turn around and charge $12, $15, $18 for a class of yoga when someone else is willing to charge $1? What do you think?

I should also mention that as soon as I came to my mini epiphany mentioned above, I was happy to pay for the bus, and even extra when I didn’t have exact change. This past weekend, I found my Orca card.

The Triadic Adventure with Ross Rayburn at Seattle Yoga Arts

Posted on June 6, 2010 by Nikki Chau

Last Thursday night, after I taught my Beginner’s class at Village Green Yoga, I went out to dinner with Jean Massimo, who told me that Ross Rayburn, a Certified Anusara teacher, coming to Seattle Yoga Arts this weekend. This weekend? Like, this weekend this weekend? I asked Jean. Yup. Well, see, there’s a problem, I’m going to see Rod Stryker this weekend. Besides, I don’t even know who Ross Rayburn is.

I thought about it though, and after thinking it some more I decided to go see Ross instead of Rod. Rod Stryker is in town for a 5-day workshop on the Marma. I know, like, thero, about Marma, and I want to know more. I wouldn’t be able to see him for all five days, and I thought maybe 2 out of 5 would suffice, and then I convinced myself then 2/5 would be half-assed. And maybe this is god’s way of telling me to be impulsive and take risks and do things that aren’t planned… and all that jazz (see how easy it is to rationalize? ).

I confess, I can’t really get with the program on some of the words used in Anusara Yoga, though I *like* them. I like them *a lot*. Words and phrases that use and abuse the heart, like melt your heart just… I don’t know, I LIKE THEM, I use them privately, but I don’t need them to be… on a Yoga Journal ad *everywhere*. It’s the same allergy I have with all the girly mags headlines about sex, *all* the time, *every* time. Sometimes I’d see a Cosmo cover and cynically think, “maybe if you didn’t obsess over everything about it, you’d actually have time to just do it.”

Okay, enough about my soapbox. The point is, I decided to go see Ross Rayburn, without really knowing much about what we’re going to do, and this description from the website, though sounded nice, didn’t prepare me much for what to expect. But hey, sometimes that’s how it goes, right? And he did mention it will be an adventure. Did someone say adventure? I’ll sign up for that.

In Anusara Yoga, one of the most fundamental methods is to align with grand, universal forces as the foundation for our lives. One such fundamental energy construction is the paradigm of three. Triads are essentially omnipresent. Whether it’s the triad of the great religious traditions, the audible sounds of the sacred Om or simply the elements of each breath; the wave-like creation, refinement and dissolving is with us in every moment of every day. Thus, recognizing them and their wave-like properties is not only efficacious, but can be truly and magically transformative.

This theme will be applied in a weekend workshop where we’ll explore myriad triadic frameworks through meditation, asana, and of course, what we do off the mat. It’s going to be an adventure, a Triadic Adventure… Ride the Wave! (This is an ALL levels workshop.)

Ross is funny. I appreciate that. A lot. My philosophy is you can be extremely strong and flexible in the body, but if your mind is as rigid as honey on a cold day, you’re still not very much fun to hang out with. So Ross is funny and down to earth, and he made a Sanskrit joke! I dig that. He’s also an anatomy geek. This too, made my heart happy. (Oh noes, I said heart!)

Since I’m so used to studying with Judith Lasater, who’s a stickler about asking to touch someone, there was some partner work that had me thinking, “I’m supposed to touch this stranger… where?” There were also a couple things we did with the hips that I wasn’t sure about, but I’m thinking I just need to chew on the cud a little.

Anyway, if you’re reading this and have a chance at some point to see Ross Rayburn, go. If you’re in the Capitol Hill area in Seattle, or anywhere else in the Seattle area, for that matter, and looking for top-notch Anusara Yoga instruction, check out Seattle Yoga Arts and their new space on 15th and Madison.

Support Your Local Yoga Teacher – An Interview with Laura DeFreitas

Posted on May 17, 2010 by Nikki Chau

I first got to know Laura DeFreitas about a year and a half ago when she became an independent yoga teacher and started teaching at Taj Yoga, where I teach now, and where I was doing my yoga teacher training with Pacific Yoga at the time. Wanting to support her new business, and as a teacher trainee, I got a super good discount with Laura (that really sealed the deal) I signed up for a one-year membership with her.

So, I got to practice with Laura for a year. She primarily teaches Vinyasa Flow and Yoga Nidra, which, if you have not tried one of her classes, you really ought to.

I met up with Laura in Ballard at a Thai restaurant, and we talked about the practice and business of yoga over delicious Pad See Ewe (no tofu, extra eggs ). Laura finished her training in 2002 after college and has been teaching since 2003. Her influences are: Ashtanga, Yoga Nidra, Universal, and Iyengar in her 200-hr teacher training at Pacific Yoga.

What made you want to be a yoga teacher?
I was a gymnast for 15 years, took a break when I entered college and felt like something was missing, not only physically but something else. I feel like I’ve always been a seeker. I discovered yoga through a girlfriend of a coworker, took an intro series, and from the first class just knew this was something I wanted to learn more about. I did it as much yoga as I could. Then I discovered the Pacific Yoga Teacher training. It felt like coming home. Yoga speaks to me on that level of spirit I felt I’d been missing in my upbringing.

How did it become your profession?
I just hoped that I would be good at doing it [yoga]. The students were the ones that told me that I should continue and teach. I started teaching more and working less. It took me a couple years to make me realize that this is something I could do professionally.

How did you get your initial jitters out of the way?
I rented a small space and charged 5 bucks and taught my coworkers, whom I already knew, and that helped a lot.

What has changed the most since you started teaching?
I’ve changed from “spa yoga”, to a “no apology” yoga. This started as an internal shift. I’d catch myself getting nervous about teaching difficult poses and then noticed that I would back down in order to ‘protect’ the student thinking, “This is too hard, they’re not gonna want to do it.” I realize now that this is the place to work and there is a lot to be learned right on the edge of physical, mental and emotional intensity. My classes still leave you feeling great and I offer a Yin Yoga class to balance the vigorousness of my general classes.

How would you describe your classes?
I like think my classes move you into stillness. Yoga Nidra is infused into the movement. My primary influences are Astanga and Universal Yoga. Lately I’ve been drawing a lot of inspiration from Seattle Ashtanga Yoga teacher, Troy Lucero. Classes are modified to suit the level of the student base.

How did you discover Yoga Nidra?
I was at the 8 Limbs advanced training, and Anne Phyfe taught Yoga Nidra. It was one of those moments where you’re like, wow, I need to know more about this.

What’s the hardest thing about being a yoga teacher?
I think yoga is undervalued, it’s more than exercise. Getting that across to people in subtle ways is one of my intentions as a teacher.

Seattle Yoga Teachers Laura DeFreitas and Lux Sternstein at Laura's 1-year anniversary party at Taj Yoga

Laura teaches primarily at Taj Yoga in the Crown Hill neighborhood of Seattle. You can find more about Laura at Laura Nidra Yoga.

Here’s Laura on the value of yoga beyond the physical:

Support Your Local Yoga Teacher – An Interview with Greg Owen

Posted on May 16, 2010 by Nikki Chau

I first met Greg Owen at a Tias Little workshop in Seattle. I had been taking notes all day on my iPhone, making Greg curious enough to ask if I was really taking notes or just texting the whole time. After showing him how I took notes, my super duper tapping skillz impressed Greg so much that he let me take a yoga class of his for gratis.

Fast forward a couple years later, after becoming a yoga teacher in my own rights, I still remember Greg for his support of me as a young and uninitiated yoga teacher trainee wobbling into the world of teaching yoga. I met up with Greg one fine Seattle day to interview him.

What made you want to be a yoga teacher?
I grew up in Seattle and my mom did it when I was a kid, I’ve always been interested in philosophy. I studied Philosophy at New York University and Ponoma College and moved back to Oakland and got a degree in Glassblowing and did yoga as physical therapy for my glassblowing. I went to the Pilchuck glass school in Stanwood, which is an international school that Dale Chihuly started.

There were free yoga classes in the morning. A teacher came from 8 Limbs Yoga and taught and I was blown away by her demeanors and knew that I needed some of that in my life, since I’m a two left foot kinda guy. It was so helpful to me that I wanted to share it with people.

For my 36th bday I went to India and stayed at the Sivananda Ashram in Kerala. I figured that’s half my life so I would start over. When I came back Anne Phyfe Palmer suggested I take the teacher training. I started teaching 2 months into my training, afterwards I started teaching at 8 Limbs and have been teaching there since.

How have you gotten to be here in terms of style?
As the philosophy starts to steep in it becomes more than just the physical, the Yoga sutras and Buddhist text are all coming together. In my teaching the philosophy plays a central part. I describe it as using the body to discover the nature of the mind.

What has changed the most in your teaching?
Ideally my classes work the best when I’m not there, meaning I try not to let my personality get in the way of the teaching. I want to become transparent for the teaching to be seen.

How do you mean? What’s a class with you like?
I teach awareness, which means awareness of the breath and the body, and where the mind is, lik, “What are you thinking about, and what is the nature or quality of your thought?” I try not to suggest how people should feel or what they should think but I always ask them to ask themselves how they should think or how they’re feeling.

Do you teach with music?
No

And why not?
I’m a musician, a musicaholic, and a collector. It’s a pleasure and a distraction, it’s a big part of my life. I try to give yoga some space so I’d rather listen to my music at home. Also, people focus on it too much.

How do you introduce chanting?
Sanskrit is the language of yoga, I teach in it as much as I can, the chanting is a way to tap in the bhakti or the bhahavana. It’s an easy way to get people out of their head, it can bring up a lot of fear. It’s not a test.

What would you tell someone who wants to be a yoga teacher now?
I would ask what they want to do, and if they want to make a living, I’d tell them to become a barista instead. I think everybody can benefit from a teacher training, whether they teach or not. It’s like a calling and less a career choice. It’s not like being a massage therapist or a acupuncturist. Everybody can benefit for sure. It’s a human practice, so a practice from book or DVD is limited.

What’s the most challenging thing about teaching yoga?
All that human interaction can be very challenging. I’m a private person, so all that psychic energy in the room can be overwhelming, more so than a hard day of snowboarding. One thing I’m dealing with right now is figuring out if I should or should not tell the students that I’m having a hard time. I’m just trying to figure out what’s right for me.

What else gets you fired up?
I love music. I love being outside, hiking, swimming, snowboarding.

Where can we see your artwork?
At gregowen.com, at the William Traver Gallery on 1st and Union above the Vetri Glass International.

Seattle Yoga Teacher Greg Owen

You can also find out more about Greg at Studio G. He teaches at 8 Limbs Yoga and Westside Yoga in West Seattle, and Be Luminous Yoga in downtown Seattle. Here’s Greg on his teaching style and “Everything Yoga”:

When One Door Closes

Posted on March 26, 2010 by Nikki Chau

Last week I told you guys that a climbing gym where I had been teaching Yoga for Climbers decided to discontinue the program. As someone who enjoys synthesizing the two together big time, I was bummed for not having a place to share that with my fellow climbers and yoga practitioners.

Two days later, an awesome email arrived in my inbox, and I had to laugh out loud while reading it. You know that U2 song, She Moves in Mysterious Ways? I immediately thought of it, and shook my head smiling, thinking, “Okay, the Universe, you’ve got me. I surrender.” All those cheesy self-help feel-good things that you hear started flashing through my mind. Sure, people say when one door closes, another opens. But there is sometimes a long hallway in between, and wow, this one opened almost immediately right after the other one closed.

What happened that got me so jazzed? Check out the email I received and you’ll see:

My name is Danielle, I have very recently opened a yoga studio and outdoor excursion company in Ballard: Backside Bow. Most of our yoga classes are based around outdoor, “action sports” or “surf, snow, and dirt” (climbing, biking, surfing, snow). The Bow’s purpose is to create a community around healthy living, the outdoors, and yoga. Bringing all outdoor creatures to yoga, and yoga to them. Also, there’s the hope that this will bring the different outdoor communities together!

I have heard great things about you and your teaching. I would be very interested in sitting down with you to talk about the classes you have been teaching, ideas, and your availability or interest in teaching more yoga for climbers classes. Please, let me know if this is something you’d be interested in talking about further.

Would I be interested? Hell yeah! And talking about it further I did. This morning I met Danielle Harvey, an inspiring young woman who grabbed the bull by the horns, followed her passion, and opened Backside Bow, a yoga studio for anyone who likes to play outside with snow, water, and dirt.

We spent almost two hours talking about everything from being an entrepreneur, to marketing, to Danielle’s vision for the outdoors and yoga worlds to collide, and everything in between. (When two women with crazy love and ambition for yoga meet, long conversations are sure to ensue.) So, you’ll be hearing more about Backside Bow from me in the future. For a sneak peek, I’ll be teaching there twice a week:

R&R Yoga on Sunday nights, 7-8:30 p.m. starting April 4, 2010.
8-week Intro series of Yoga for Climbers, Wednesday nights, 7:45 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. starting May 5, 2010.

In the meantime, here’s a short video of Danielle talking about her vision at Backside Bow. And if I can tell you something a guy named Tom once said, it’s that life is really, truly a box of chocolates, and if something tugs at you, just run like the wind blows.

Backside Bow Yoga Studio in Ballard, Seattle.

Press:

KOMO: Backside Bow ties yoga to outdoor sports
Ballard News Tribune: 23-year-old creates her dream job

Gettin’ Waggy With It – A Downward Dog Mini Series

Posted on February 23, 2010 by Nikki Chau

If you know me in person or have been following my blog, you know I have a thing for Downward Facing Dog. It’s nothing I need to get therapy for (yet), but I *can* talk about the fine details of this pose from sunrise to sunset.

So, this week and next, I’ll be teaching a Mini Dog Series at Village Green Yoga in Issaquah. We’ll be talkin’ techniques, wagging, and inverting for fun and profit.

When: Thursday nights, 7:00 p.m – 8:30 p.m. February 25 and March 4, 2010.
Cost: $15 for drop-in, $27 for both classes.
Where: Village Green Yoga. Google Maps.
Contact: (425) 657-0411. info@villagegreenyoga.com

Yes, savasana will be included

Transform T – A Shirt for Haiti

Posted on January 19, 2010 by Nikki Chau

Tonight I found out that YogaDork was running a t-shirt design contest to raise money for Haiti, and I immediately opened up my Photoshop program.

I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

Back in early November, I submitted a design to a Yoga Journal contest for a freebie to a YJ conference, and I used then a concept that rings even more true and has even more meaning now. The concept is the word transform, written alongside of the pose utthita parsvakonasana.

Let me give you the back story.

Transform – Not Just For LifeZoid Robots

When Judith Lasater came to Seattle this time last year, it was the start of what would be a long term relationship of my studies with her. At the start of the first day, she rung her tingsha bells, slowly at first, and then with increased speed and volume, fast, faster, loud, louder. When she stopped, you could still hear the echo of the sound filling the room.

Judith explained that the ringing of the bell was a call to action, and the speed signified the urgency. We need to do our practice, now more than ever, she said. Our practice is not a location, it’s the intention. It’s something you can do 24 hours a day. “We change the world by this practice,” Judith stated with such strong conviction, and I was speechless and motionless (both extremely rare occurrences for me, and if you know me personally, you’re probably nodding and smiling right now).

“I have seen what a laugh can do. It can transform almost unbearable tears” – Bob Hope

My understanding of Judith’s statement is that we change the world by this practice because we change ourselves by this practice. We are, as MJ said, “starting with the man in the mirror.” One way of changing something is to transform it. And so, change = transform.

The root word trans means across, denoting the idea of movement, of bringing something from one place to another place. To me, that’s what our practice is meant to do, to help us transcend conditions, to transmit what TED would call “ideas worth spreading”, and to transport whatever Good Stuff we get from the mat into the rest of our life.

Form, literally, is what we work on when we do the yoga postures, it is what we work on when we assume the meditation posture. Form is our attitude and state of being, as in bad form, good form, off form, and on form. Form is the natural world, as in landform, and ourselves, as in life form, or true to form.

So, transform, to me, is bringing that which we practice and putting it in good use.

Connecting – Not Just For Getting Online

What about parsvakonasana, what’s so interesting about that?

Utthita Parsvakonasana, or Extended Side Angle Pose, is a pose I work on pretty much all the time. This is true for a lot of other poses as well, but I have a story of how I learned to love Parsvakonasana.

For the longest time, I thought I had to bend down as low as possible and reach something across the room. Needless to say, my form was pretty god-awful. Studying with Theresa Elliott fixed a lot of it, and then the light came on when I read about the meaning behind Utthita Parsvakonasana in Judith Lasater’s book 30 Essential Yoga Poses.

“The diagonal line created by the arm, torso, and leg symbolizes our connection from Earth to heaven and heaven to Earth.” – Page 49, 30 Essential Yoga Poses, Judith Lasater.

Ohhhh!

So, it’s not about reaching for some vague thing across the room, I’m reaching for something above. Whenever I practice this pose, I think of this first eureka moment, and I check for the outer edge of my back foot reaching for the earth and my arm reaching up, which (this is for all my Iyengar peeps out there), helps me open the chest-pit and the armpit.

You see, the symbols are everywhere here: extending, connecting, etc. If we really want to beat this horse some more, I can go as far as saying that by helping the Haitian people, we are providing support. Where their Earth rumbled, by giving tangible things, like money, we give something solid for them to get back on their feet.

Finally, the trans and form lettering are in the colors of the Haitian flag. To me it’s a subtle way of supporting the cause and remembering it when you wear it without shoving it in people’s face that you’ve done something good.

Okay, do you wanna see it?

I transformed (ha) a picture my friend Ben took of me at Village Green Yoga. My form is not perfect, so all you, ahem “Nerds“, please refrain from using “tape measures, slide rules, sextants, the Global Positioning System, and possibly even a measuring device that uses the decay level of cobalt-52 to measure the positions of the subnuclear particles lurking deep within my pose.” (Thanks, YogaDawg, I never get tired of that line).

Nikki Chau in Utthita Parsvakonasa, photo by Ben Schiendelman, shot at Vilalge Green Yoga.

Nikki Chau in Utthita Parsvakonasa, photo by Ben Schiendelman, shot at Village Green Yoga.

And here’s the design:

So, that’s my story. It is way too late to consider it being “late” right now. It’s getting towards “early” territory, and I can hear the early birds outside. I’ve stayed up almost the whole night, but that’s a first-world problem. There are many people in Haiti who have probably stayed up for much longer and will stay up for a while longer still.

I have stopped reading the news, which seems to talk more about the politics of aids than anything else. And while the world bickers on how fast, how much, where, when, who, how, why, human lives continue to suffer and perish. I am discouraged by it all, and though I’m no Arjuna, at times, yes, I do feel like putting down my bows and arrows (er… you know, my iPhone and MacBook Pro) and become overwhelmed with sorrow. So, thanks YogaDork, for this contest, to give me a kick in the pants, to say, “fight, Arjuna”. Tonight I felt the urgency, and this was my call to action.

The deadline is this coming Thursday by dawn (like, this time, probably), so I have some time, and if you have any suggestions on the design, please let me know.

Thanks!

Studio Profile – Taj Yoga in Seattle

Posted on January 12, 2010 by Nikki Chau

As some of you might have read in my previous post or newsletter, I am, to put it lightly, “friggin’ stoked” to be teaching the Intro to Yoga series at Taj Yoga, a studio directed by Theresa Elliott, who’s also the co-director of Pacific Yoga Teacher Training, a Teacher Training program that’s in its 13th year and counting.

The studio is peculiar and may be very different than some of the more “traditional” yoga studios (for lack of any better and more accurate description). So, here’s a primer on how to get to, and find Taj Yoga.

Taj is on 14th Ave NW between Holman Road and 95th, 2.5 miles north of Green Lake, 5 miles south of Shoreline, 3 miles east of Northgate, and a stone’s throw from Ballard.

It is easy to get lost or miss it if you’re looking for a standalone building. The studio is housed in the old Crown Hill Elementary School building, owned by Small Faces Child Development Center. It’s the home of several movement programs, including ARC School of Ballet, Wassa Dance, and the Crown Hill Arts Festival. It’s also going to be the new home of Seattle Gilbert and Sullivan Society, one of the oldest performing arts organizations in the Seattle area.

What does this mean to you if you come do yoga at Taj? You might be passing by young performers in tutus; you might hear the distant sounds of drums or piano down the hall as you walk in, or basketball, volleyball, or bagpipes and Irish dancing in the gym. It all makes for a very lively and joyful environment.

Here’s the front of the building, on the corner of NW 95th St and 14 Ave NW. There is parking all alongside the building, as well as on the left side and in the back. It’s also accessible by bus #75 on Holman Road NW, bus #15 on 15th Ave NW, and bus #48 on NW 85th St.

The front of the Old Crown Hill Elementary School building

Here’s what you’ll see when you walk in. Straight ahead through the door is the women’s bathroom. The men’s is to the right down the hall.

As you walk inside the Old Crown Hill Elementary School building

Taking a right, you’ll see the office for ARC Dance. Walk down the hall for about 50 yards, and Taj Yoga will be on your left.

Taj Yoga is down the hall to the left

Inside, there are cubby holes for your belongings. There are mats for use at no charge, blankets, blocks, straps, chairs, foam blocks, balls, bolsters, etc., lots of toys and tools to facilitate the learning process.

Inside Taj Yoga

I look forward to seeing you here!

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall – Using Mirrors in Yoga

Posted on January 1, 2010 by Nikki Chau

Lately, I’ve been out and about with the Christmas and New Years Festivities, catching up with friends, reflecting on the old days, planning, hoping, dreaming for the days ahead.

One thing that would undoubtedly come up in the conversation is yoga. “How’s yoga going?”, is a popular question. “Do you teach hot yoga?”, is another popular question. When I emphatically answer no, I would almost always get the follow up question, “What do you think about it?”. Those who’ve heard my stance on hot yoga would even introduce me to a friend, “Meet Lisa, she does a lot of hot yoga.”, “Meet Nikki, she hates hot yoga.”

Um… nice to meet you? (There’s no better way to start a relationship on the right foot than for someone to be told that you “hate” what they spend a lot of time doing.)

Last night at a New Year’s Eve party, I found myself in a conversation with a friend’s fiancée and another friend’s girlfriend about hot yoga, and specifically the use of mirrors. Talking to a friend’s Significant Other whom you do not know very well is actually not that different from being on a first date. You don’t want to talk about anything too confrontational unless you want to make the conversation really short and create some bad blood.

Clearly, I did not observe this rule. Lucky for me, they offered me different perspectives but were also open-minded and nice enough to hear me out on mine, because they both did Tae Kwon Do and could have easily taken me out, and no amount of advanced Pranayama training could have saved me.

(As a note of clarity I’m using Hot Yoga and Bikram Yoga interchangeably but always referring to the Bikram style hot yoga where the mirror is in the front of the class.)

A Mirror is A Pneumatic Tool

I’ll start by regurgitating something of a mantra at Taj Yoga, where I study with teacher Theresa Elliott and teach intro to yoga. From the About Us page of the Taj Yoga site:

“Yoga is a pneumatic tool”, states yoga master BKS Iyengar. “It can be used for good, it can be used to harm.” The benefits of yoga for people of all walks of life are innumerable. However, as yoga has proliferated, yoga-related injuries have risen at an alarming rate.

And mister Iyengar said in his book, Light on Yoga:

“Pneumatic tools can cut through the hardest rock. In Pranayama the yogi uses his lungs as pneumatic tools. If they are not used properly, they destroy both the tool and the person using it.”

A mirror is such a pneumatic tool.

The Eye of the Beholder

“What’s wrong with mirrors?”, my new girl friends asked quizzically. It is not that there’s anything “wrong” with mirrors. From my experience, here’s what I’ve seen with mirrors (cheap jokes are the only kinds I’ve got ):

A mirror can be used to adjust for alignment. This is a Good Thing for practicing yoga asana. The mirror is a powerful tool to give us feedback on our postures. However, we can very easily slip into self-criticism mode and use the mirror to find flaws, real or imagined ones. In an image-driven and competitive world like ours, it’s a lucky person who has managed to avoid any and all insecurity stemmed from messages of popular culture.

If we were to use the mirror for alignment, that would assume that we know what to check for, which a long-time practitioner would be qualified to do. However, a person brand spankin’ new to yoga does not have the luxury of knowing where the arms and legs go. In this case, the only thing they can do is to imitate others in class and do things that may or may not be appropriate for their body at that specific time.

In addition, experienced practitioners over time will cultivate a certain sense of proprioception and bodysense so that their practice brings them *in* their bodies, and the need to continuously stare in a mirror for the whole duration of the practice would diminish, similar to dancing. A dancer may practice in front of a mirror, but does not need, or use one when the piece is learned.

Naked as We Come – On Self Acceptance

In a hot yoga class, most people are not wearing very much clothes (and the guys are going, woohoo!). You could say that this is the first step towards self acceptance, to see ourselves as exactly who we are without any covering (this is what practitioners of Naked Yoga are motivated by). I am totally open to the possibility that someone somewhere out there is so rock solidly sure of themselves that they could stare at themselves for 90 minutes in the mirror in their bikinis, embracing every inch of their body and all their imperfections.

It is also just as likely that seeing their own body, and then other, perhaps skinnier, younger, more limber bodies in that same mirror will push someone to an even less healthy relationship with themselves. I’ve lost count of the amount of times in a Bikram yoga class that I sized up the class to see who was better or worse than me. I could not wait until my favorite poses were called, so I could show everyone how “good” I was. Of course, I may have looked impressive, but I was merely creating potential injuries in the weak parts of my body.

I can’t remember during the times I did hot yoga (and it was a loong time) if I ever came to any kind of self-acceptance and peace of mind, but I definitely did have more of an urge to be the best, rather than becoming one with anything or anybody.

The Softer Side of Sears… I Mean, Mirrors

Having said all that, I will point out that I’m only speaking from my own personal experience, and my opinion is inevitably flawed and skewed and biased. I will stress this again and again and again. I believe that there’s always a time and a place for everything in life. There is not one prescription, no matter how potent.

Mirrors are just mirrors, it is what we choose to see that can serve us or harm us. They can be an awesome tool for alignment work. But to see, to really see into ourselves, like, in the Avatar movie sense of *see*, to me, they have every bit of potential to hinder as much as they help.

In the spirit of the New Year, here’s to more “I See You”, Avatar style. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a greeting that acknowledges more than just our face and outer appearance. It’s a greeting to something bigger and deeper inside, perhaps not unlike Namaste.

Yoga with Nikki Chau

If you want to be happy, be. ~Leo Tolstoy

Category Archives: Yoga Styles