“Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”
I am a curious person by nature, and it is an attribute of my personality that was nourished when I was a child. So, it’s no surprise that my favorite letter to a young poet contains advice on questions and answers. What often surprises people, however, is when I explain that I didn’t take yoga teacher training so that I could teach – I took it so I could help answer questions.
When I started practicing yoga in Houston, I would constantly encounter family, friends, and even strangers whose main intersection with yoga was me. Naturally, these people had questions. These questions might start off simple: What do you like about yoga? How often do you do yoga?
But, before long the conversation veered outside my pay grade*: (1) Can I (or Should I) do yoga if I have high or low blood pressure? (2) I can’t do yoga because I have arthritis, right? (3) Is yoga bad for me or my unborn baby? (4) What do I do to get rid of this pain in my bottom or back side?
Keep in mind; I studied English in college, not holistic health – and I was practicing yoga, not studying it.
But, the questions kept coming up. And people didn’t seem satisfied when I invited them to take a class taught by one of my teachers or told them they should ask their doctor (who often didn’t know anything about yoga). They knew me, felt connected to me; so, they wanted my answers.
It was like the universe was echoing Rilke, “Live the questions…live your way into the answers.” So, I did.
These days, I don’t always have the answers, and I still refer people to their health care providers. But, now I know enough about the questions to recognize how to help someone live their questions or how to direct them to a resource, like Rilke directs Kappus to Nature.
The mind-body connection is part of Nature. Tapping into that connection allows us to live our way into answers. But, people often feel disconnected from their bodies or their minds in a way that creates suffering, discomfort, dis-ease, and questions. These questions can only be answered by tapping into our mind-body connection.
See the Catch-22? If you feel disconnected from yourself, your whole self, how can you tap into yourself? One word: Yoga. The only problem is that many people think they have to be a certain way or have a certain physique in order to “do yoga.” Many people don’t realize there is a yoga practice for everyone; you just have to find yours.
The adaptive yoga taught by Matthew Sanford, and the other teachers trained by Mind Body Solutions, is an approach to yoga which helps “those who have experienced trauma, loss, and disability to find new ways to live by integrating both mind and body.” It is a way of practicing yoga which helps people tap into their whole selves in order to live their way into answers.
“When you leave this short time that we have together, you will spend the rest of your life fulfilling or answering a single question. The question is a simple one, it’s very straightforward. But I want you to think about it. The question is, “What’s next?”
Ultimately, I decided to offer an opportunity to explore the what, why, and who behind the practice. But, these questions (and answers) I’m posting as part of my 2016 Kiss My Asana offering are not only opportunities to explore the practice of yoga, they are also an opportunity to live it and share it. (The first “enhanced” video is here if you are reading this via email.)
Thank you, in advance, to everyone who donates and/or volunteers to answer these questions. If you’re interested in answering the questions (on camera), you can grab me after most classes Friday – Tuesday or email your video to myra at ajoyfulpractice.com. (Please note: If you are sending me a video, leave a 6-minute pause before each answer.)
Keep an eye out for the practices inspired by the answers and the donation-based classes coming soon!
~ NAMASTE ~
*NOTES:
(1) Yes, you can practice yoga if you have blood pressure issues; however, you may not be able to practice all poses or sequences if your blood pressure is unregulated. As with all physical exercise, get clearance from your health care provider before starting something new and then check in with your yoga teacher before class to make sure you receive modifications as needed.
(2) Wrong. While, again, some poses or sequences may be counter-indicated if you have arthritis, certain types of yoga are weight-bearing exercise, which means they are good for osteoarthritis. You may not experience the similar symptom-related benefits if you have rheumatoid arthritis, but yoga can still help you manage stress and promote overall wellness.
(3) Not if you’re mindful. Prenatal yoga and prenatal yoga modifications are great for moms-to-be, babies-to-be, and even dads-to-be. Check in with your health care provider and your yoga teacher to make sure you receive modifications as needed.
(4) It all depends on the type of pain, location of the pain, and why you may be experiencing the pain. Sometimes the answer isn’t a hatha yoga (physical yoga) pose or sequence, sometimes it’s a lifestyle or mattress change.
To paraphrase Timothy Leary, it’s time to Turn on, Tune in, and Pucker Up! February is going to be a busy month what with the usual holidays, everybody’s favorite yogathon (2016 KISS MY ASANA), and Walker Art Center’s “Winter of Love” event. Save the dates!
Tune In, Pucker Up & KISS MY ASANA!
When you think about it, February is the most obvious month to pucker up and KISS MY ASANA! Once again I am committing 4 weeks to raising awareness and resources for the adaptive yoga program at Mind Body Solutions. Matthew Sanford and the teachers at Mind Body Solutions “help those who have experienced trauma, loss, and disability find new ways to live by integrating both mind and body.” They provide classes, workshops, outreach programs, yoga teacher training and highly specialized training for health care professionals. Their mission reminds us that there’s a yoga practice for everyone. And KISS MY ASANA is an opportunity to do yoga and share yoga, while helping others. For my 2016 offering, I have a few questions….
Keep in mind, this is only a preview so that you can start thinking about your answers. Tune in for daily KISS MY ASANA posts in February!
Turn On, Tune In & Breath Love!
To celebrate the last few weeks of their Hippie Modernism exhibit, Walker Art Center is offering “Winter of Love” – 12 hours of free programming during Valentine’s weekend. Join me on Saturday, February 13th at 5 PM and/or at 7 PM in the Star Tribune Art Lab for a brief introduction to meditation and a guided meditation suitable for all ages and experience levels. A limited number of cushions, mats, and chairs will be provided. (Please note that the sessions may be different.) Check out the museum’s website for more details about the exhibit and event.
“Thanks to everyone who came out to support Mind Body Solutions on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. The essence of Matthew Sanford’s teaching is transformation. It was deeply inspiring to see everyone open their minds and bodies to this exploration.” – Kari Anderson’s message to the yogis who donated $315 at our April 18th donation-based event.
As we approach the end of the 2015 KISS MY ASANA yogathon, I find myself overwhelmed on so many occasions that I sometimes feel like I have lost my “big girl words.” Time and time again, I have been blown away by the generosity and kindness of people on the mat. I set my 2015 donation goal thinking I could raise a few more dollars than last year – and already some joyful yogis from at least two (2) states have more than doubled my initial goal! (Thank you all for that!)
Time and time again, I have been moved by an encounter with a Mind Body Solutions teacher, student, or volunteer. And, every time – every single time – I take a class from Matthew Sanford, I am blown away and my mind is completely boggled. In fact, I shudder to think how many times I said, “I was blown away…” or described something as “mind boggling” during last Saturday’s donation-based class. Maybe it’s cute at first, especially if you’re expecting further explanation down the road; however, some things can only be experienced to be fully understood. So, I invite people to catch a Monday class with Matt and, every once in awhile, I mention Mind Body Solutions in class and try to channel a little Matt the way I sometimes channel a little Yoda. During last Saturday’s donation-based class, I felt my words were so inadequate I relied on words written by Bruce Kramer and Cathy Wurzer in We Know How This Ends.
For those of you unfamiliar with his story, Bruce Kramer was a former dean at the University of St Thomas Twin Cities who chronicled his life with ALS on Cathy Wurzer’s Minnesota Public Radio show. We Know How This Ends describes their parallel journeys through this process of living and dying, while sharing the process of living and dying. The book is raw, and rich, and so real I had to set it aside for a moment after I first received it from a mutual friend and student of Bruce and mine. But, before Saturday’s KISS MY ASANA class, I read the chapter where Bruce and Cathy talk about “Dis Ease Yoga.” And I was so moved (read, “blown away”), I decided to share Cathy Wurzer’s words as part of our introduction and Bruce’s words as our conclusion.
“There’s a darkness upon me that’s flooded in light / And I’m frightened by those that don’t see it” – Head Full of Doubt / Road Full of Promise by Avett Brothers
In We Know How This Ends, Bruce Kramer describes aspects of yoga that are very familiar to me – even though I’ve never been in a wheelchair or felt the extreme decline of my body. He describes benefits from and challenges in his yoga practice that may be familiar to anyone who spends a little time on a mat. And, like me, he was a big music fan. (Thank him for the Avett Brothers song referenced here! And like it on YouTube!) He and Cathy Wurzer also talk about a point before ALS, before “Dis Ease Yoga,” when they didn’t really get the significance of the practice.
“If you’re loved by someone, you’re never rejected / Decide what to be and go be it” – Head Full of Doubt / Road Full of Promise by Avett Brothers
I was fortunate in that my introduction to yoga included an introduction to yoga as a philosophy and to the idea that yoga can be practiced by anyone – you just have to find your practice. It wasn’t until I started teaching that I discovered people who would stop practicing yoga, because of an injury or an unfortunate circumstance. And, it never fails to break my heart when someone gives up what can be a healing practice, because their body (and/or their doctor) says, “No more push-ups.” That’s when a yoga teacher can step in and say, “OK, you’re not doing that anymore, but you can do this!” Only, I remember hearing former paratrooper Arthur Boorman’s healing story and thinking, “How is it possible that Diamond Dallas was the only yoga teacher willing to help this guy?!?” Well, bottom line, too many Western yoga teachers are ill-equipped to teach the physical practice (let alone the meta-physical practice) to someone who isn’t already considered physically and/or mentally “able.” Thankfully, Matthew Sanford and the other teachers at Mind Body Solutions are changing that!
“There was a dream and one day I could see it / Like a bird in a cage I broke in and demanded that somebody free it / And there was a kid with a head full of doubt / So I’ll scream till I die and the last of those bad thoughts are finally out” – Head Full of Doubt / Road Full of Promise by Avett Brothers
Mind Body Solutions is on “a mission to transform trauma, loss and disability into hope and potential by awakening the connection between mind and body.” It sounds all lofty and wonderful, right? But, it’s also very real and very raw. It’s a mission that, as the Avett Brothers sing, gets “the last of those bad thoughts” out so we can realize that as long as we’re breathing there is a mind-body-spirit connection. And it’s there, even when machines are helping us breathe.
Despite occasionally practicing with Matt; implementing some of what he teaches in my own practice and teaching; and having a few personal connections to people being served by the mission, I am slightly removed from the very real and very raw experiences found in adaptive yoga. If you’re not living the mission or deeply connected to someone being served by the mission, I think it is easy to fall into a space where this whole adaptive yoga thing just sounds like a good idea – you know, a worthy cause – but somehow separate from what the rest of us are doing. As I mentioned earlier, reading the “Dis Ease Yoga” chapter in We Know How This Ends helped remind me that we are all in bodies together and so, therefore, we are all in this yoga thing together. It’s not the style or the tradition that makes something yoga, it’s the coming together.
“ I feel part of the universe open up to meet me / My emotion so submerged, broken down to kneel in/Once listening, the voices they came / Had to somehow greet myself, read myself /Heard vibrations within my cells, in my cells “ – Better Days by Eddie Vedder
There are plenty of times when I feel part of the universe – and I feel connected to every other part of the universe. There are times I relish that feeling. Superficial as it may seem, I sometimes relish that feeling when it comes from seeing someone with a yoga mat and thinking, “Hey, that person’s a yogi, like me!” Even without knowing anything about them, or their practice – even knowing sometimes the person could be going to Pilates or something else altogether – I still have that moment of affinity; that moment when I feel connected and want to go deeper, find out more about them. But, it’s very rare that I have that feeling about someone in a wheelchair, or someone on a ventilator, or someone missing a limb. Cognitive, I know we are connected – but I very rarely have that visceral, bone-deep, cellular feeling like I do with someone with whom I have a shared experience.
Last Sunday I had a one of those rare bone-deep, visceral yoga/union moments.
I wore my Yoga and Body Image Coalition “This is what a yogi looks like” t-shirt while teaching, but (y’all know how I layer) between classes I wore my long sleeved 2015 KISS MY ASANA shirt. Somehow, despite my hoodie and my winter coat, a woman in a wheelchair spotted my yogathon t-shirt. We were going in opposite directions, but as we passed one another she shouted, “I practice there too!” I said, “It’s awesome.” She sighed, “I know,” with a big smile on her face.
About twenty minutes later, Carrie and I ended up in the same coffee shop – and we got to talk about yoga. She encouraged me to try a practice at Courage Center and told me about her teachers, only two (2) of whom were familiar to me. For a moment I thought about how by supporting the yogathon, teachers and students like me create opportunities for more teachers and students like Carrie, and her teachers.
But, ultimately, when I remember my discussion with Carrie, I will remember her saying she loved how friendly everyone is when she practices. I will remember that big Cheshire grin on her face when she said her favorite part of class was the relaxation part – and how her grin looked exactly like the big Cheshire grin my regulars get when they ask if we can do a 60-minute Savasana. I will also remember how that feeling I had when she first noticed my shirt, was the same feeling I have when I notice someone carrying a yoga mat: I will remember that moment when we were one and the same.
You can also use the link above, or click here, for more details on the 2nd 2015 donation-based yoga class Kari Anderson and I are hosting on Saturday, May 2nd at Flourish.
You can also use the link above, or click here, for more details on the donation-based yoga class Kari Anderson and I are hosting on Saturday, April 18th.
So if you’re feelin’ down and out, got no place to go now
Just sing along to the music y’all, let it fill your soul now
Because everyone deserves music, sweet music
My best friend in college always said life has a soundtrack. I know, everybody says that now – there’s even an app for that – but this was back in the 80’s/90’s and it wasn’t a thing, it just was. And what it was to me was true, in part, because I had been hearing a super eclectic soundtrack all my life.
I heard all the sounds of the country, mixed with all the sounds of the city. I heard vinyl and 8-track tapes before cassettes. I spent a good portion of my younger days thinking my Beatles-crazed friends were fans of Wes Montgomery. I was in a girl band that sang songs like “Lettuce Entertain You.” And I once got a speeding ticket for flying down an open highway to Mahalia Jackson (with my maternal great-grandmother and grandmother in the car).
My maternal great-grandfather owned a super club on the Chitlin’ Circuit; my dad played first chair trumpet in high school – even though he was tone deaf; my immediate family took road trips where most of the stations along the way played old school country; one of my maternal great-uncles had a basement full of classical; one of my first cassettes was dubbed “Hollering Oats” by my family; my mother took me to my first live rock concert; and at some point along the way my friend J. Ben taught me it was OK to play rhythm & blues, country, and heavy metal on the same mixed tape – you just had to have a theme…or not.
There are answers in the music
And there are answers in the words
Fast forward to now. After years of working in the performing arts, I started teaching yoga. I’m quick to tell people that I didn’t take the teacher training to teach – I took it so I could answer questions. What I had no way of knowing when I started this little adventure was that some of the questions I would end up answering would be about the music I play during class.
Rewind to my first yoga classes. There was no prerecorded soundtrack. In fact, I think I practiced for a couple of years before I took a class with music, and another couple of years before I practiced with a teacher who played non-classical/instrumental music.
What hasn’t ever left me; however, was what preceded my musical conversation with Rie. I was in Savasana trying to figure out why the very quiet song seemed so familiar to me, and why my body seemed to be so tuned into it. When I spoke to Rie after class, she said she picked the song because it was soothing and it was in Gaelic; and therefore, unlikely to be a distraction (seeing as we were in Southeast Texas). Little did she know I was studying Gaelic at the time or, that in that moment, I would start really thinking about how much music could enhance or undermine the practice of yoga as meditation.
And every cry is a song
And every song is a prayer
And our prayer must be heard
Fill the air
Music can serve as white noise (or maybe it’s brown noise). It can serve as an extra wall, filtering out distraction from outside the practice space. It can serve as a controlled distraction, a known quantity, to hone our focus/concentration. It can also, unfortunately, just be a distraction. And yet, I know people who never “hear” the music – even when I play Ozzy Osbourne – and I know people who will practice to a song for years before they listen to it. Other people will go so deep into the song, they get beyond it.
In Yoga Sutra 1.2 Patanjali writes “yogash citta vritti nirodhah” (“Yoga ceases the fluctuation of the mind.”) Inherent in this statement is that fact that the mind fluctuates. Left to its own devices, the mind will, at some point, start looking for a distraction. So I give the mind music for several reasons. First, in some meditation traditions people are told to think the word “thinking” when their mind starts wandering. It’s a reminder to get back to the meditation. When I pick a theme for my classes, I also start picking music that supports the theme by serving as a reminder when the mind wanders. Second, Patanjali (in YS 1.17) outlines four (4) levels of attention/concentration/meditation: (1) gross, (2) subtle, (3) bliss, (4) and absorption. In their commentary on YS 1.17, Geshe Michael Roach and Christy McNally compare the levels to (1) being aware that music is playing; (2) examining the words and melody (maybe humming or singing along); (3) enjoying the song, being overcome by its beauty; and (4) being so absorbed that nothing else matters, everything else disappears. Finally, research has shown that when people hear a song they haven’t heard in a long time, their blood pressure changes. Breathing and breath awareness can also change because of the tempo, volume, and musical key.
This is a song that nobody knows
I couldn’t begin to describe how it goes
But it makes me cry or laugh right out loud
It’s a song that I sing when there’s no one around
Last April, I posted 30 Poses in 30 Days for the KISS MY ASANA Yogathon. I am doing the yogathon again this April to raise money and awareness for the adaptive yoga programs at Mind Body Solutions. This year, however, we are gearing up early. So, in an effort to get people excited about practicing yoga (or practicing more yoga), I’m posting 30 Songs in 30 Days during March. I know, I know, some of you are already thinking, “Hold up, Myra, March has 31 days.” Yes, it’s true, and since this post has at least a baker’s dozen linked song references, plus two (2) unlinked song references, AND one song contains at least ten (10) musical Easter eggs, consider each one a little musical lagniappe (a little something extra, freely given with a purchase).
~ Thanks for spending a little time with me. NAMASTE ~
A Joyful Practice 