Challenges of Being Both Student & Teacher

  As a novice student of yoga I had my struggles learning to be present in my practice. There were streams of thoughts, loops of negative self-talk, and disconnect from my breath as I was guided through movement, stillness, and pranayama.  As the years passed this inner chatter quieted, my movements became linked to my breath, and I was more often in the yoga – feeling the connection of mind, body, breath, and spirit. My experienced benefits and ever-growing love for yoga led to my desire to share by teaching after almost a decade as student. 
Read more http://torontobodymind.ca/blogs/heather/lessons-dual-practice 
*photo credit to EK Park

LGBTQ seniors & yoga

One of my long term goals is to combine my experience teaching yoga in the LGBTQ community and my Seniors Yoga training to create a local class for LGBTQ seniors.  The attached trailer is for a documentary about LGBTQ seniors and the challenges they face when needing care or assisted living.  This community needs all the support, love, and advocacy we can offer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV3O8qz6Y5g

great blog link

I came across this blog and entry today about a "queer fat femme's" intro to yoga.  I think you should check it out:
http://queerfatfemme.com/2010/03/10/the-queer-fat-femme-guide-to-beginning-a-yoga-practice/

Kripalu - Yoga Therapy Intensive

If you are considering a trip to Kripalu, either to study or for a holiday, I highly recommend it.  The grounds are beautiful, the food delicious & nutritious, people friendly and diverse(!), yoga classes safe and creative.  You can apply for a scholarship to study there if it is beyond your current means. I went for the Yoga Therapy Intensive, a week long study with Yoga Therapists: Judith Hanson Lasater, Gary Kraftsow, Mukunda Stiles, Nischala Joy Devi, and Larry Payne - among others.  We looked at using yoga to work with trauma, transforming pain, evaluating musculoskeletal imbalances, aruyedic yoga therapy, prime of life yoga, yoga for anxiety, shoulders, hips, sacrum, and low back issues.  It was a lot to absorb and will take time to integrate - but some gems were immediate "If a pose feels safe for your body you'll be able to take a full comfortable breath.  Breath is your gage."  "Provide inquiries to your students so they can explore and become experts on themselves." "When opening the heart; open the front, the back, the sides, the skylight of the heart, and the basement of the heart."

meditation

"Meditation is not about feeling a certain way.  It's about feeling the way you feel.  It's not about making the mind empty or still, although stillness does deepen in meditation and can be cultivated.  Above all, meditation is about letting the mind be as it is and knowing something about how it is in this moment.  It's not about getting somewhere else, but about allowing yourself to be where you already are."
Wherever You Go There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn

Senior's Yoga

I spent this past weekend doing a wonderful Senior's Yoga Teacher Training with Monica Cordes (www.yogaforseniors.ca).  We talked about honouring the aging process by offering classes geared specifically to senior's needs.  Which of course may mean offering several different classes given that seniors can be anywhere from 55-105 and have a wide variety of abilities and challenges.  Breath, alignment, movement, meditation and visualizations are all valuable tools in increasing our quality of life.  Benefits are improved breathing, increased energy, improved digestion, increased mental clarity, easing pain, calming the nervous system, releasing chronic tension, balancing blood pressure & blood sugar, improving balance, and promoting restful sleep.  It was inspiring to hear about the other teacher's experiences: a 103 year old practicing yoga in their wheelchair during a chair class,  a student with advanced alzheimers accessing a joyful memory of time spent with her friends during a beach visualization.  "Our bones are dynamic, constantly changing tissues, connected minute-by-minute to our entire mind-body system.  Every morsel we eat, every move we make, and every thought we have affects our bones."  S.Brown, Yoga for Healthy Bones

spring, time of new opportunities

Today I practiced to jazz.  I have never done this before, and am doing so thanks to a generous, and talented student (www.oridagan.com) who brought me one of his cd's when he discovered I like to accompany the movement portion of my yoga with music.  I found a new twist in an old series, tried some unfamiliar pranayama, and found my mind exploring places that don't often come up in my home practice.  Try something outside of your habitual routine and you might be surprised at what you find.