Yoga and Cheesecake - Two Things that Make Me Happy

But not so for the author of this somewhat humorous article about yoga who also wishes she liked cheesecake (she obviously hasn't tried my mother's cheesecake!)

Silly Names

I was looking at some of the upcoming releases in Yoga DVDs on Amazon, and thought I may as well share with you some of the titles that made me laugh. Again, you can get angry at the commericalization of Yoga, but they are just titles meant to sell in our culture, and I'm sure that many of these are actually quite good; becase, really, it all comes down to the individual's mindset going in to the pracitice.

Ballroom Yoga
Ten Zen Tummy Toners
The Pursuit of Happy Hips
Yoga: Sweat & Freedom With Pilates! (I'm confused, is it Yoga or Pilates.)

And the winner is: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Power Squad Bod! - Body Slimming Yoga. The one that inspired this lame post.

Simply Yoga

I remember the first time I found out there were different ways of practicing the system of yoga. Before that I thought it was all the same. I had heard of Iyengar, Satchidananda, Sivananda, and, of course, Rodney Yee (the prolific yoga DVD creator that he is). I knew what Hatha meant. I did not know that there were actually some great differences in approaches, let alone something called flow yoga or power yoga. I don’t believe the local Chapter’s had its yoga section yet.

During my first year of college, I signed up for a free meditation class. While there I was approached by an older couple, obviously excited to see a fresh, young face, and asked how I came to be there. I told them I practiced yoga and wanted to try a meditation group. Their faces lit up (this was just on the cusp of yoga’s explosion of popularity--I think Madonna had already been on Oprah doing her asanas, but this city was still a bit behind, as Nova Scotia often is). They asked me, “What kind of yoga do you practice?” There are kinds?!!! I thought. I panicked, never being one who was comfortable with looking stupid. I mumbled something along the lines of, “I don’t know . . . regular yoga,” and got away from them as fast as I could.

It was after that experience that I started to seek out books on yoga and began to study it. Things started to get complicated. Being in college at the time, however, I had to put yoga study on hold for the most part. But after college, during the last few years, I’ve felt I had to amass as much knowledge as possible about the system of yoga, despite the fact that I can never remember the Sanskrit names. I thought if I was going to teach I had to know everything or else I would be false, a fake. I think I was happier with my yoga practice when it was simply just yoga and being with the breath. I’ve began to remove the pressure I placed on myself to get back to that place. When I say I’m taking a break from yoga, I don’t mean that I’m not practicing and trying to “live” it, but trying to be less intellectual with it—it was taking up too much brain space (and god knows, I ain’t got much of that!). I just don’t want yoga to be an obsession (although I suppose people would be a lot less interesting without their various obsessions).

P.S. I never went back to that meditation group. They were a bit weird.

(Text Copyright: Graceful Yoga and Simplicity, 2009)

Graceful Simplicity

Don't forget to visit my new blog: Graceful Simplicity.

Beginner Mind Again and Changes

I’m happy that my hubby has decided to take yoga class with me. Another reason I love this is because it’s forced me back into a beginner class, and it has been “enlightening.” I’ve been moving away from physically demanding practices for a while now—I still do them when needed, and I’m physically active elsewhere—but lately when I come to my mat I need stillness. I’ve learned more in two beginner Kripula Yoga classes than I have in a long time. And I’m not talking about the postures.

I am tired of self-analysis, searching, and achieving. There is peace and happiness to be found in what is now. I do not need more self-improvement. I just need to remember to breathe and be mindful. Simple. Mindfulness is the backdrop that everything else rests on, and I feel like that is something I’ve lost recently.

What am I getting at here? Perhaps, I just mean that, for myself, there are more important things for me to focus on, more useful things to learn. I think I can be more “useful” if I can get my head out of this space. I may not have appeared to be outwardly busy, but internally, I had myself under a lot of pressure. I had myself under deadlines to have certain things figured out and decided upon. That has not been successful. And I fail to see how reading about the Chakras could help me.

Bliss Chick has written about something similar recently, and she puts this feeling into better words than I can. She writes about it here and here.

So I’m moving on and have decided to move on over to the Graceful Simplicity blog that I registered a while ago (it will be ready soon). Call it a fresh start or a clean break. This blog will still be here for whenever I feel like writing about yoga, but I hope my current readers will also venture over and visit me here. Change is good.

(Text copyright Graceful Yoga and Simplicity, 2009)

Last of the Flowers

It's the first day of the most wonderful month, October, and the first day of the October Blog Party hosted by Domestic Witch.

There are only a few flowers left in the garden, but there are still a number of wild flowers (or weeds) left in the yard, thanks in large part to the fact that we haven't mowed the lawn in months.

The last Morning Glory. And below is the place it was hiding.

A new flower I've discovered this year is pictured below. I have no idea what it is but hope someone can tell me the name. It's a beautiful, exotic-looking yellow flower that grew naturally in one of my flowers beds. When you touch the seed pods, they explode in your hand like magic. I have seen them elsewhere, growing wildly in other places in Nova Scotia, so perhaps it's native.

(So as I was writing this post earlier today, the hubby fell through the glass roof of the greenhouse he is building. This is the 2nd time in 6 years that I've had to call the ambulance for that man. He is fine. He is definitely accident prone and for that reason is not allowed to use chainsaws. I assure you, we are laughing at this.)

(photos and text copyright Graceful Yoga and Simplicity, 2009)

Can You Earn a Living Teaching Yoga?

I’m glad I found this article (thanks to Happy Daisy Yoga). It’s so hard to find an honest look at the reality of making a living teaching yoga. Everyone usually just says how great the training experience is, how it’s worth the expense, etc., etc.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my motives for taking yoga teacher training. And I’ve been having my doubts. Most of the time I like my job. My life is usually stress-free (there are hard times, but nothing that can’t be dealt with). Teaching yoga would be something I’d do on the side, so I’m not sure it’s worth the stress potential (time and money) it could bring. I like my free time in the evenings to explore my hobbies. I like having free nights at home without any engagements. In other words, most of the time, I like my life just as it is. I would have many obstacles to teaching yoga; the biggest one is a lack of interest in running and marketing a business or myself at this point in my life. It’s just not something I want to do. I don’t even like the idea of trying to promote myself to the recreation department to fit in yet another yoga class where there are already many offered (and how many does one small town need?)

(Update: Linda also has a number of frank and honest posts about teaching yoga, which I've always found to be helpful. Go check them out.)

(Graceful Yoga and Simplicity, 2009)