Yoga Village

Response to NY Times Article

2012-02-01T10:28:00.000-08:00

Response to “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body”
By: Anjali Sunita

My first thought on reading this article was: what were the intentions of the author and the yoga teacher interviewed? Why would a writer selectively emphasize the negative aspects of yoga and harp on detailed isolated cases without including research to the contrary? And why would the New York Times publish an article that incites fear and denigrates the practice of yoga?

This article makes gross generalizations about "classical yoga" practiced by Indian people who "typically squatted and sat cross-legged in daily life." I, too, have heard people, who frustrated by their lack of physical flexibility, imply that, "Yoga is for Indian floor-squatters." The argument that "classical" yoga is not for "the vast majority of people" (presumably Americans) in itself, demonstrates the arrogance that pervades this article. It is an elitist argument made by people with bruised egos, who realize that mastery of yoga asanas (yoga postures) does not come easy.

If "yoga can wreck your body" so can driving a car. In fact, the Huffington Post makes a wonderful comparison of statistics for injuries in other low impact physical activities, including golf. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eva-norlyk-smith-phd/yoga-health_b_1191479.html). It's not golf, cars, or yoga postures wrecking the body, it's the way we are approaching these activities.

I have received many queries from former and current students, some as far a Zanzibar, who cited "this trusted American source, The New York Times." My answer to them was simple. Practice yoga with mindfulness. Incidentally, words like mindfulness and awareness are not some New Age vocabulary spouted off by yoga teachers; they are at the very essence of yoga. I would respectfully ask yoga practitioners to consider: why do you do yoga? Are you doing the posture the way you saw it on TV? Is it about aspiring to look like your physically fit instructor, or a renowned guru you found on YouTube? Is it about escaping from your seemingly banal life for one hour? For sure, yoga asana classes are the in-thing right now, the hot places to be. People are frustrated with delayed doctor appointments, rushed doctor visits, and conflicting advice. And because modern gurus seeking to market their own style, or authors quoting gurus out of context, have credited "yoga" with fixing every physical and mental problem known to man, people think it's worth a try.

Teachers who are "jumping on people, pushing and pulling, and saying 'you should be able to do this by now'" are not teaching yoga, classical or otherwise. Yoga is a way of life, and yoga practice demands personal investment and awareness. I concur with Broad's view in this regard. "Paying attention" is crucial in yoga class. People who hunger for peace in mind and body find what they are looking for because they practice yoga that way. Other teachers and students approach yoga asanas the same way some people drive through rush hour traffic--mentally checked-out, impatient, seeking short-cuts, projecting self-anger onto others, and in denial of their physical discomfort. They are on auto pilot and run the risk of accidents.

Broad's article mocks Swami Gitananda for saying that "Real yoga is as safe as mother's milk." It well may be if real yoga is practiced as it was meant to be--full of rich spiritual practices, not athletic feats. Broad also implies that contraindications of yoga postures have not been addressed. Two of Swami Sivananda's greatest disciples, authors of "Asana, Pranayama, Mudra, Bandha", (Swami Satyananda, Bihar School of Yoga) and "The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga" (Swami Vishnu-Devananda, Sivananda Yoga) clearly address this point. And there are numerous images and written accounts of Iyengar's yoga style using props. "Lifting the shoulders on a stack of folded blankets and letting the head fall below it," was something that Iyengar himself taught. Instead, Broad gives credit to "Roger Cole, an Iyengar teacher with degrees in psychology from Stanford and the University of California, San Francisco." The recent trend to knock down the gurus who brought yoga from India to the West speaks to the pressure both writers and teachers feel to re-invent the wheel and appear more enlightened than their predecessors.

Most of the injuries spoken of this article were attributed to the practice of inverted postures; More than 10 paragraphs spoke of injuries to the neck and the interviewed yoga teacher, Glenn Black, attributes his own injuries to practicing shoulderstands and plow postures. While headstands, some arm balances, and shoulderstands are key postures to teach safety, mindfulness, and how to come out of the postures early if needed because of potential risks, these postures are favorites of some of the longest practicing yogis out there, like B.K.S. Iyengar and one of my greatest inspirations, 93 year old yoga teacher Tao Porchon-Lynch. I personally learned headstand from an 80 year old man demonstrating how to do the posture. To rule out certain asanas entirely is another example of impatience and haste. These challenging postures are counterindicated for some people, like those with existing neck and shoulder injuries and those with high blood pressure or risk of strokes, because of the added weight on the upper body and blood flow toward the heart and head. However for others, these postures can be of extreme benefit to find strength in the core, strengthen the heart muscle, bring more blood flow to the brain, heart, and thyroid regions, and most importantly to build confidence and concentration. It's all in how they are taught and practiced. They are not postures to be rushed or pushed but rather taught with simplicity, good alignment, and patience.

The Yoga Sutras, written in Sanskrit, is rich with yogic principles such as abhyasa (diligent practice),vairagya (non-attachment), and viveka (discernment). Knowing something about the philosophy of yoga is the best safe guard against injury since one is less likely to engage in competitive, self-destructive patterns. Instead, one listens to the body's gentle message and discerns how, and for how long, to hold a posture with non-attachment to results. This kind of physical approach to yoga becomes a metaphor for moving through life. The fact that teachers are popping hamstrings while being filmed or photographed, or " being urged to do more" perhaps indicates the importance of finding the right teacher. Teacher trainings are a dime a dozen. Look for knowledgeable teachers for whom yoga is a way of life. Such teachers are more likely to remind you that you are the driver of your own vehicle. It's perfectly fine to take physical or emotional rest-stops in class. No single sequence of postures is a cure-all for every single body.

The efficacy of yoga in clinical settings is currently being studied for twenty serious studies ranging from stress management to malignant brain tumors (http://clinicaltrials.gov) Authors Haas and Bartlett from Johns Hopkins University and McGill University have reviewed "Yoga for Arthritis." (Rheumatic Disease Clinics of North America, vol.37, 2011.)

With more than 84,000 classical postures, specific sequences can be tailored to specific needs in yoga classes. Regardless, the key to safety is to be mindful as one comes into, holds, and transitions out of each posture. Often pain is caused not by the posture itself, but by hasty transitions, or by going beyond comfort. The Yoga Sutras say that a yoga asana is a posture that is steady and comfortable.

While I found most of yoga teacher Glenn Black's statements full of contradictions, I agreed with Broad's final quote from Glenn Black. "Asana is not a panacea or a cure-all. In fact, if you do it with ego or obsession, you’ll end up causing problems." I would go further--at the point of ego and obsession, it's not even yoga. Yoga means "union" or “yoking”. Postures taught without the higher intention of joining individual consciousness with a higher consciousness are no longer yoga asanas; they are simply physical postures.

Anjali Sunita is Founder and Director of Baltimore Yoga Village in Maryland, (www.baltimoreyogavillage.com) and Director of Jivan Yoga Teacher Training. Originally certified to teach through the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center in Kerala, India, assisting in the associated ashram in Canada and then opening two yoga studios in Baltimore, she has the opportunity to study and practice with a number of authentic yoga teachers in all realms of yoga study including philosophy, anatomy, conscious communication,prental yoga, yoga for children, North Indian Classical singing and chanting, pranayama and meditation. She particularly credits her North Indian Classical singing teacher, Guruji Hasu Patel, for showing her how to live a yogic life, peaceful and persevering.

Universal Message of Love

2011-07-12T11:46:00.000-07:00

Even in a heartfelt community such as Baltimore Yoga Village, there is still a great need for interfaith dialogue. We recently had a bit of a facebook upheaval, when the leader of a kirtan group publicly posted that he could not sing anymore songs in Sanskrit, "to blue people", "gods and idols", and the words went on. I had often sensed that people who lead kirtans would best lead if singing from the heart, from what is most meaningful to them, and that all traditions lead to the same big ocean. However, what was posted became an expression of his internal source of conflict now that he found Jesus. And so I want to share my response (seen below) with the heartfelt prayer that we all remember the beauty and necessity of cultural sensitivity and Universal Love.

"I'm really happy for you that you are going deep into your connection to any expression of love. I have to say one thing though, just because this message you sent here has been coming up for me at times and because Baltimore Yoga Village has been a place for your Kirtan.

There are as many ways of expressing Love as there are people in this world. It is equally diverse. Sanskrit is a root language just like Latin, old and beautiful from which many languages have come. Some common roots of words can be found between Sanskrit and Latin too - as in fact this world is just one and people have been nomadic throughout history. Many of the songs we know in Sanskrit translate to universal themes, though many of the translations that people write out are somewhat re-interpreted. And I have always had a sense in many kirtans I have attended that those leading them do not know how to translate the songs with love and understanding, that there is some distance from them - in which case I was wondering why we weren't reading an english poem or singing another song. It is most powerful for anyone leading a kirtan to be coming from the heart. However, one of the beauties of these cross-cultural kirtans or interfaith meetings is opening the heart to everyone in the community in celebration of the many ways to express Love. With true understanding of the "gods" even, there is no such thing as an idol. When singing these names, there is no singing TO anyone. That is an interpretation of hinduism and other faiths that has been particularly emphasized through evangelism combined with colonialism around the world. No one who truly practices from the heart would even know what an idol was. No one who bows in front of a statue, like those who kneel or dance in a church or sing before an alter of Christ, is expressing division but rather humility and love.

The "blue" as in representation of Krishna's or Siva skin color or the "skulls" as in representations of Kali are symbolic like fish and loaves of bread or a dove or water. They are commonly known symbols of something. I understand that these symbols without any context may seem far out, which is why this kind of conversation would be very useful at a kirtan if people are feeling conflict. What a shame that that conflict was not expressed so that it could be dissolved. These seemingly fictitious symbols are there because people grow up with stories, parables, taught lovingly by parents and elders, to learn something deeper. And what they are learning at a deeper level is no different at the root of the matter for a true lover of Christ. In most temples or regions of India, people have one particular image of god they relate to most strongly. That is not say, one "aspect" of God - because for each person in prayer or ritual, Love is big and total. I recently learned that "Hindu" itself was a name made up by the Brittish for "religion of those Indian people", though as India does generally, it absorbed the name. "Hinduism", if you want to look at it that broadly, is actually monotheistic but accepts that there are many expressions over time as to tell stories and to express that God is present in everything, everyone, and everywhere and serves every function, creation, balance, destruction - No matter what, God is present even when we are experiencing suffering. Again, this is a message that crosses all religions and spiritual forms. Some people catch this realization by looking at reminders on earth like the soil, sun, and sky. And some people through stories they grew up with or embodied practices. It's all symbolic. Every practice. Even language itself (all languages) are symbolic.

Your email has shown me more and more what I have known for some time which is that one way out of "conflict", be it internal or between people, is through educating oneself and remaining open. Perhaps another way is to connect to the love of Christ so strongly that there is no possible room for division. I'm sure at that point the symbols that seem so daunting will be as meaningful and empty as every other symbol. With that comes great compassion and humanity - which is the main point of any of this."

Following the heart; an excerpt of my life's experiment

2010-09-06T08:39:00.001-07:00

Sacrifice is giving selflessly from a never ending well of abundance with no desire for result. A true sacrifice is an offering from the heart that doesn't deplete but feeds the soul . True sacrifice is a loving act in which the one's will aligns with the will of the greater good. It's an act of faith. Loving mothers know this. Priests know this. Anyone who engages in selfless service knows of how a genuine sacrifice is rewarding at the level of spirit. In my life, when I have been most aligned with my dharma I have made sacrifices without being aware of them. Decisions have come with ease, with no sense of loss.

When I was 23 year old, I was working in a Washington DC theater, commuting from Baltimore, living on a small stipend, fully engaged in the opportunity to finally assist a well known director in a play. It was a lifelong dream from age 5, when I started setting up little shows in my backyard and inviting the neighbors. This director gave me the gentle encouragement to move to New York as did many of the actors, words I had been waiting for since I first discovered my passion for acting and theater at a very early age.

But my arms were full of excema, I couldn't sleep; My lifestyle was far from the healthy lifestyle I desired, and I didn't see anything in the lifestyle of these people that would be a guide for survival in that industry. (Except for one man who became a mentor in Buddhist chanting, most of the people I met seemed emotionally and physically imbalanced). I had a yearning to share what I knew of healing and never felt better than when I was giving massage, reiki, and teaching asanas to the actors in the plays. While I thought my calling was to work in theater, it was becoming clear that my true joy was in improving the wellbeing of others and myself. When the play ended, I had a few thousand dollars to my name, moved temporarily home to my mother, and felt the desire to somehow move to New York like most of my friends and work there. But that desire was one that lingered from the past, and my body was showing signs of stress and dis-ease, telling me clearly that this lifestyle was not for me. What was clear and unquestionable in that moment was that I would go to India to study yoga in the Sivananda ashram, visit my grandmother in Mumbai, and come back with an official certification to teach. I thought I would be gone for a little over a month.

I thought nothing of going after the tsunami when the waters were contaminated. I thought nothing of spending my last dime on this short course. These were thoughts that arise when I look back, laughing, when I realize that it was a true calling to just go, go, go. There was no risk or insecurity in this decision, no depleting feeling, just an easy choice that wound up changing the course of my life, health, "occupation", and character. True sacrifice is listening to the heart's deepest whisper and letting go of anything that stands in it's way.

Needless to say, what followed was a journey of following the heart. Sometimes the heart leads you to fire, where old ideas and identifications get burned. The process of following the heart can be joyful and it can be painful but it always leads you to truth.

I wound up staying in India much longer, studying yoga longer, travelling in the Himalyas, living in New Delhli with my newfound love and in his village with his beautiful family. I felt elated. When resources ran out completely and I was fully in love, I decided to return to the States, file for a fiance visa, and then move to Canada where my yoga teacher lived much of his time, where I could wait for my ex-husband's visa. I lived in the ashram in Canada in a tent for a few months, giving service to the ashram in exchange for soaking in the teachings. One day my teacher told me suddenly that I would teach the afternoon yoga class. It had been many months since my training. I went to my tent to re-memorize the opening prayers. I expected him to be there in the class, but he did not come. I taught my first public class there to 60 people who were to begin their teacher training the next day. It was an experience of just letting go, calling upon the teachers who had come before me, that the knowledge flow through me and that I would be of service to those in the class. It was a feeling of complete surrender, and after that class I was never afraid to teach.

Eventually the visa came through and I moved from Canada back to India to live for another four months and bring my beloved to the United States, home to Baltimore.

My (ex)husband and I began teaching with nothing in our pockets. Classes grew in many locations and we began to find community in Baltimore. We were often living on one meal a day. I was doing the driving for us both, housework, and teaching up to four classes every day. I was thin as a rail but happy to teach free classes to anyone who genuinely wanted to learn, to start yoga communities in new places, to share the teachings. I would drive from Owings Mills every tuesday to Fells Point, a long distance to teach one girl above an art gallery in a small room for $7. It was yet another "sacrifice" without any thought of depletion; I knew that this student could be a wonderful yoga teacher one day and I felt honored to spend that time with her. And I chanted morning and evening for the next year and a half, my heart whispering that a studio would open up to us. One day a woman who owned the Ahimsa Yoga Center told us in privacy that she was tired and we offered to take over. It was our favorite location, and it became the first Baltimore Yoga Village location.

Only a few months after we began this studio, I discovered many deeply disturbing and shocking secrets about my beloved, and without going into details of what occured to me as very painful betrayal, I left the marriage immediately.

The day I left my ex husband, my father, who always supported me, but had always been concerned that my pattern of following my heart made me vulnerable, said to me: "You are now going to know who really truly loves you and you will probably be able to count them on one hand". At that moment I was standing in the middle of a big fire, shedding tears the moment my eyes opened in the morning, and through prayer mustering up the energy to come to the studio and sit in the seat of a teacher. Many students disappeared. A few remained. Many people assumed I learned yoga from my Indian ex-husband and asked me what I would do now with my life. That was again not even a question. I would get up every day and do my best to serve. And when I was teaching and serving, I felt peace. Of course, I would continue teaching and living out my yoga practice. Service reminds you of who you truly are.

There were many sacrfices involved in the beginning of this journey of running the studio. Many identities shed, many changes. But the heart's whisper has been getting louder and louder and I would not replace this journey for what it has taught me.

Now again in a phase of abundance, I am living with many beautiful souls around me, students and teachers; living with the knowledge that nothing is permanent except the soul. All things are in a process of change. People come. People go. Like thoughts. Like dreams. Like identities. Only the soul remains, only the inner voice of the heart, and nothing real is ever lost.

Sloppy Joe Kirtan

2010-08-06T12:05:00.001-07:00

A few years ago, I was asked by a friend to help lead a kirtan in a popular yoga space in town. My friend is an ex-rock musician, Krishna Das style kind of guy, who leads kirtan with western guitar. When he lived in Baltimore, he frequently asked me to sing with him at kirtans or at his house for practice. Although my path has always been to study music more traditionally, with careful consideration of the meaning of the words, for the purpose of devotion, and in North Indian classical compositions, I appreciated his heart and intention and most of all his dedication to going deeper into the practice of devotional yoga. Sometimes he was so blissed out singing, that I thought a song would never end. He was really into it and I truly wanted to support him.

A few years ago, he asked me to help lead the response, so that his raspy vocals could be well understood and that his audience/participants, who would be new to kirtan, could had some support in the pronunciation of the words. I usually agreed, though I remember feeling apprehensive on the day he asked me to go to this one particular space. First I said no, and then after much persuasion, said yes I would join him.

In kirtan, people gather together to sing divine names, often in the ancient language of Sanskrit, in order to unify with the divine within themselves or to forget their worries, channel their emotional energies toward God, and feel uplifted in Spirit. It is like the gospel music of yogis. Usually a leader calls and the "audience" responds back with the same line, and this goes on repetitively until everyone's chattering minds quiet down and the community sings in unison from the Heart.

When we got to this particular space, we walked through a gym to a heated yoga studio which the owners were cooling down and airing out from the earlier hot yoga class. Lined up along side a wall was high quality sound equipment and on the floor some candles. I was unaware that others would be with us leading the kirtan but it so turned out that there were three others; the sporty studio owner would drum, his girlfriend sporting a tiny tank top and indian-ish skirt would sing, and another long haired man in a tye dyed shirt would play a combination of instruments alongside us. And then to my suprise, in bounded the studio owner's dog who we all lovingly greeted, though I was a little shocked to realize he was a studio regular and to hear his name was that of a Hindu God. Bold, I thought. To nearly 1/5 of the world's population, that dog's name has a very deep and significant meaning.

As the handful of yogis and the dog settled down on the mats, and the loud music began, I closed my eyes ignoring the material world of the gym, the sweaty smell, tangled wires from all the equipment, and focused inward as I would do before singing anywhere on earth. I realized that my purpose there would be to answer questions about the meaning of the words, should anyone ask, as I was not sure if anyone knew them.

No one asked any questions that night, but my friend and I sang with our whole hearts as that was our committment. The music was loud, the percussion overwhelmeing like a competition of vocals and instruments. I remembered a lovely yoga teacher who I had met in another gym saying to me "I want to teach my yoga students to meditate with boulders falling on their heads". I remembered this with love and used the kirtan as a challenge to meditate in a noisy space.

I did not open my eyes until I started to hear chuckles coming through the speakers. The studio owner was laughing in his microphone as his dog had just finished urinating on a yoga mat... at which I point I could not deny that this whole production was way too far out for me.

Although I am not a Hindu per say, I told my friend that I would never attend that place again and that knowing my profound respect for kirtan he probably could have guessed that I would not have been interested in such a venue. He was quite offended by my seeming negativity and gave me a speech about how yoga is for everyone and that I was judgemental.

But then I ask you: Would any priest dare to name a dog Jesus, take it to church, and laugh when it pees on the alter?

I agree that yoga is for everyone. But like all things that one loves and respects, the more one learns, the more one is humbled. The less performative and sloppy their work becomes. Scientists make discoveries only to be filled with more and more questions. Artists dive deeply into their art and lose themselves in it. Having studied privately under a master of Indian Classical Music, I feel so touched and humbled, that I myself am yet to ever lead a kirtan alone. I feel I have hardly brushed the surface. It will be an honor the day I do.

If someone is a teacher of yoga, and takes on the duty of sharing devotional yoga with others, in which Divine names of all religions are sung, would a teacher not have some reverence for the divine names? Would anyone even think to treat devotional music in English with arrogance? I'm not saying everyone has to be interested in North Indian Classical composition of music, but are these words in Sanskrit just in fact just gibberish syllables, like two year olds singing the ABCs, and are the names no more meaningful that Spot, Fluffy, or Tony the Tiger?

Kirtan is all the rage in California and from there it has spread across the United States. It's become a popular thing for yoga studios to do.

But USA, all I'm asking for is a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

Yoga Teacher Training

2010-08-04T10:33:00.000-07:00

By popular request, I am at last creating a course designed for those who wish to teach yoga and also those who wish to develop their practice and understanding of yoga at a deeper level. This is an intensive course of Self exploration for those who want to go more deeply into the study of classical yoga as I have learned and understood, drawing from the classical texts where yoga is mentioned, as well as from my experience as a teacher of diverse populations. This program will be a comprehensive and experiential study of yogic texts and philosophy, meditation, Anatomy and Physiology, yoga postures and breathing techniques, and inspire you to share yoga practice with others in your own authentic voice. A special mentorship program is also available after the YTT for those who are serious about teaching.

On the list of faculty for this first training are:

Dr. Lalita Noronha-Blob (Anatomy and Physiology/ Glimpses of India)

Guru-ji Hasu Patel (mantra and sound healing)

Adhikari Sacha(Living Meditation and Samyama)

Anjali Sunita (primary teacher of Asana, pranayama, philosophy).

This has been my mission and dream for a long time to share all of these aspects of yoga under one roof and give wings to those who wish to share yoga in all the corners of this city and the world. For those of you who have enjoyed learning in bits and pieces by attending our programs at Baltimore Yoga Village, the YTT program is an opportunity to concentrate your study and practice. This program is open to all, local and out of state or country residents.

It's always been important to me to train teachers and students with a deep respect for the vast history of yoga and to always keep a beginners mind. Ultimately "knowing thyself" is the teaching of yoga, so it takes practice, courage, and persistence to focus the mind inward and to see the commonality between Oneself and all of existence. Practicing techniques in community with others is a great way to enhance one's understanding.

Registration will be limited to 18 students and payment plans will be available. Please indicate your interest early as we are certain that this course will fill up. We will send you an application, upon request.More information is found here:http://baltimoreyogavillage.com/cms/mt-washington-teacher-training

I always carry the deepest respect for the Sivananda Organization, where I lived and studied in both Canada and India. For my teachers there who have inspired me to teach and propagate the teachings of yoga, I am forever grateful.

Proprietary Knowledge and the Rise of Yoga Styles

2010-07-26T18:45:00.000-07:00

With the growth of yoga as an American multi-billion dollar industry, 16 million people in the United States practicing yoga, and the studios filling every corner of every town like Starbucks, clearly ideological and pedagogical differences between teachers will be emphasized as those who want to distinguish themselves teach in a saturated yoga atmosphere - especially in an environment where copyrighting and trademarking can up revenues. For one man to rise, he often comments on the slew of others out there. It's become like the conflicting studies for any product "Milk is bad for you" one study says. " A life-saving whole food that might cure the plague, Milk! But only our brand" says another study. I have read article after article in major newspapers, magazines, and journals by recognized yoga teachers and associates who define their "style", their novelty by cutting down some of the oldest and most unknown traditional masters, who will never retort because the yogi who has been meditating for the healing of the planet for years isn't interested in style. People ask me how I could offer a studio with different "styles", doesn't that dilute the teaching of one particular brand or another? I remind everyone that "yoga teaching" has become proprietary in the last thirty years, though yoga has been around for milenia, one could argue since the beginning of time, not just in India, but in a philosophical sense right here in the United States spoken of amongst the poets and philosophers we all read in school days. (Not to mention that some yoga concepts can be found in certain practices of those who first inhabited this land before Europeans came over).

Emerson said:

"There is a certain wisdom of humanity which is common ... and which our ordinary education often labors to silence and obstruct. The mind is one; and the best minds who love truth for its own sake, think much less of property in truth (of owning truth). Thankfully they accept it everywhere, and do not label or stamp it with any man's name, for it is theirs long beforehand. It is theirs from eternity."

There is no such thing as stealing knowledge, especially when we are talking about knowledge of the Self, of the Oneness of all humanity and every living being, Om.There is no way to steal something or own something that is in essence everywhere and everything. There is no division in the Great Heart of hearts. That is what all of the deepest spiritual teachings in every spiritual and religious traditions say. So why now? Why the styles?

If it were up to me, there would be no name to a yoga style - but it's not so I label everything to avoid confusion when people call the center looking for a brand. What I am more interested in is authenticity of teachers. Students can feel it, when a teacher is present and aware. However, there are very little words that can describe authenticity. It's can not be defined by saying what we are NOT or negating someone else. An authentic teacher may truly and deeply honor the lineage of their teachers but there's more to it than the simple structure of class or the coined phrases. An authentic yoga teacher knows of Oneness and tries to bridge what seems to be divided - shines a light on illusion, sometimes so subtly and repetitively that the student makes the revelation on their own in a wide legged forward bend. My favorite teachers taught me to be patient and persistent, to be humble but have faith in myself. As we get to know ourselves, our tendencies, our preferences, our approach to life, and we refine it to be more compassionate, more loving toward ourselves - suddenly there is less division between us and they man or woman one mat over.

I highly encourage reading about yoga, not in the modern papers only, but good old yoga, "The Yoga Sutras", for example, but also those great philosophers who believed in Oneness, in order to keep a perspective in these seemingly divisive times.

Open Heart, Humble Mind

2010-07-20T10:28:00.000-07:00

written: by Anjali Sunita

This weekend I had the wonderful opportunity to see Graham II, a modern dance company, perform at Artscape, Baltimore's free arts festival. I picked up a gem. It was a quote in the program by Martha Graham, one of the most recognized pioneers of modern dance in the United States.

She said:
We learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same.

Yoga is not to be confused with performance, as it is not for the purpose of outward expression. Yoga is a vehicle for inward focus and realizing one's true essence. After seeing Graham II perform, I was reminded that a true dancer or master artist of any kind has to embody principles of yoga to deeply enjoy the same piece over and over and relay a spontaneous performance each time. These principles are in essence to live fully and experience life in the moment, however repetitive, without notions of the last time one practiced or projections of future hopes, but just being present with what is, whatever comes up in the moment of life. It is truly beautiful to watch someone live the same movements anew; I experienced the same appreciation watching their performance as I feel when I see a yoga student have a new revelation after the hundreth time of practicing an asana.

While in yoga class there is no audience to remind us that this is a unique moment in time, each time we step onto the mat for yoga asana practice we are given a unique opportunity to experience anew a repetitive movement, to absorb a new lesson from our experience. There is an art to "going through the motions" with freshness, and this begins with our mental attitude toward the practice. The key is to keep an open heart and a humble mind, never to feel that you know something or to have preconceived notions and ideas, never to make banal and boring the magic of creation: be open. Be ready to learn, from everything, always, and then the poles of a "postive" and "negative" experience do not seem so far apart. A stiff day carries lessons as does a day when life feels fluid and seamless.

Wishing you all a wonderful week of patient, compassionate, committed, and humble practice - May we all learn openly from all that arises on the mat.

Combat Depression and Anxiety with breath

2010-07-02T17:08:00.000-07:00

Breathing exercises are used to balance the mind, body, and emotions, and prepare the yoga practitioner for meditation. The disciplined and faithful practice of pranayama (proper breathing) allows one to control the prana, vital energy, which is essential in order to control the mind. At Baltimore Yoga Village, in traditional hatha yoga classes, we learn breathing first, because proper breathing is the key to combatting many of life's physical, emotional, and mental struggles.Full Yogic Breath is a three part breath, in which the abdominal, thoracic, and clavicular areas of the trunk expand as one inhales and contract as one exhales. Babies naturally breathe this way, as do most people when they are asleep. The breath itself is rhythmic, calming, and nourishing. The abdominal area seems to rise and fall, as the diaphragm muscle lengthens and contracts.However, as we grow into adults, the fight or flight posture (hunched upper back and shoulders) solidifies in our bodies, our breath becomes shallower, and we use only the top portion of our lungs to breathe. Full Yogic Breath is an essential component of every yoga practice, because it engages the body in deep inhalation and exhalation techniques so that the blood is fully oxygenated, internal organ systems thoroughly cleansed, and the mind relaxed. It is an essential part of daily life as well, in order to live a balanced temperment.Have you ever noticed your breath at the moment when a small animal jumps out in front of your car, or when you hear an unnerving sound at night, or when someone suprises you with some unfortunate news? A quick inhalation, a gasp of breath enters the lungs. Even as you move on unharmed, how often do you consciously exhale that moment's suprise? Many of us take in this panicked breath several times per day but never exhale completely, allowing only for a shallow breathing for the rest of the day, and a habitual shortened breath over time. Our bodies remain tensed, and we subconciously carry the stress of the past throughout the day and into our relationships. Next time you feel feelings of drained of energy, mild sadness, and anxiety, take note of your breath. You will likely find that the exhalation is very short in comparison to the inhalation; in fact, you may find that you are barely exhaling at all. Exhaling completely is the key to "taking a deep breath", and an easy way to feel more energized and relaxed. Learning to exhale completely is the beginning of learning to breathe the full yogic breath.In traditional hatha yoga classes, taught at Baltimore Yoga Village, students learn to deepen breath using age-old breathing techniques like full yogic breath, "kappalabhati", and "analoma viloma", so that over time and with practice, breath control becomes a tool for stilling the rapidly shifting mind and emotions, and preparing the student for meditation.

"The Secret Spot" for quiet meditation

2010-07-01T10:51:00.000-07:00

It's not everyday that you find yourself alone on a placid beach, sunning on a rock, remembering the joys and sorrows of life with a deep inner gratitude, slowly and naturally setting into meditation. With nothing to do, nothing to prove, as you are not a deep sea diver or a survivor of a television adventure series or a wilderness explorer examining the fossilized rock and flora for old life, new life, or life unknown. There is no time, no desire to analyze, only you and the elements of nature in a constant process of chemical change.

As you sit on this black rock with dry white tube-like shells at your toes, once the homes of crabs and sea urchins, and look out to a beach with moss covered rock formations, miles of sand, and palm trees in both directions, the waves of the mind, the distinctive thoughts patterns, plans, and calculations of future slowly wind down and are stilled at last by the sensation of balmy breeze running through your salty hair. You become aware of the persistent sun barrelling through a deep grey cloud, this whitish round circle spilling warm rays onto the tops of your neck and shoulders. It's not everyday that relaxation is your natural state of being.

Once a month I visit this magical place entitled the "secret spot" on the Northern coast of Puerto Rico, and each time I am surprised by how quickly nature changes. Each time the colors of the water, sand, rocks, and shells are different with barely any humans to witness it the changes.

Last month the water was a clear blue and holes had created little whirlpools to rest in, while admiring every color of minuscule shells, striped and speckled so intricately designed, millions, in a few square foot platform of sand. Last month I came with a small group of students and we basked here with little to say to one another. Now after the unseasonable rains this month, the water is more like a lake and the tides receding reveal mossy stones where there were bright shells, now a glossy emerald hue.

The walk to get here through the narrow path of bushes and taller grasses was a greater adventure this time, as the rains had fed the wildlife. With each step, a crab or lizard scampered out of the path. I met a fisherman along the way who said that these violet and light green berries can be eaten, skin and all; and I imagined a life of living off of this mild fleshy fruit, fallen coconuts, and shell fish, making a home of dried palms or perhaps taking shelter where I've seen hundreds of swallows retire at sunset in the holes of a little natural cave in a cove off this beach.

What if there was nothing left to do but live, unknown by any man, let time melt away, and simple enlightenment dawn?

(Come feel the healing vibrations of the secret spot:
http://www.yogainpuertorico.com/)