Call in sick to your life...

You know how the more stuff you have to do, the more likely you are to get sick? We know it is because we tend to get more stressed, take care of ourselves less, and have more strain on our systems, but we feel as though we have no alternatives. Everything seems like it has to get done ASAP. Yet once you get sick, suddenly it just doesn't seem to matter anymore...

The Rise of the Yoga "In-Crowd"

As I was reading this recent Huffington Post article, I realized how much it answers the question of why I put everything I've ever had at risk to open a yoga studio. Many people think I'm crazy, stupid, or brave for opening my own yoga studio in this economy, particularly in a sub-region without a lot of existing yoga 'culture' nestled in one of the oldest yoga communities in the US, the SF Bay Area. Motzenbecker's article discusses one of the most ironic elements to a culture that hypothetically celebrates unity: "Yoga has begun attracting a crowd that promotes exclusivity and division. I'd like to underline the point that people in the yoga community can be some of the harshest and meanest critics out there." The fact is, I opened our studio due to the prevalence of that "crowd" in the studios I frequented.

Time for your seasonal resolutions...

As we start transitioning into Fall, I feel like I am on a roller coaster click-clack-clicking its way up the lift hill. In another week or two I'll begin the inevitable fast-paced descent, this curve is Halloween, then a few quick bumps and small hills into a banked curve of Thanksgiving, then a lazy slope until suddenly I'm into the double corkscrew twists of Christmas and New Years. From now until February, actually, several close friends and family members will have birthdays, including my own, and I know from experience in a couple of days I'll be so busy trying to catch my breath for the next few months, I'll have no idea where I am or what day it is. As a result, when NYE hits I'll have grandiose plans for how to spend the next year with little momentum to put them into effect. That's why I'm starting now...

On Meditation and Metta...

Recently I delivered a guided meditation at our 2nd annual Time for Yoga event celebrating Yoga Month. I have always struggled with meditation myself, so I wanted to do something that held the principles I wanted to share but features phrases or ideas that have resonated with me in the past. I combined a number of meditations I have read in the past, and wrote new sections that reflected my personal experiences in these meditations. Since this event, people have asked about the meditation, and I'd like to share some of the thought process and tradition behind it.

A Time For Yoga 2012 Meditation

The following is a copy of our meditation from our 2012 Time for Yoga community event. For more information on the sources of text, check out my post, "On Meditation and Metta."

What is "Asana"?

Asana is the "yoga" of American yoga: the physical poses. Some forms of yoga don't even have a physical practice, but they aren't the forms you find at the gym or parks and rec.

Asana is a valuable part of yoga, but not because it burns calories (although it does) or because it makes you more physically flexible (although it does), or even because it builds strength (although it does). Asana is useful in regulating mood, healing discomfort, and correcting physical problems caused by a busy life.Snap at the kids? Back hurt from hunching over a computer? Worried about what your body will look like in 10, 20, 30 years? Asana helps.

HOWEVER, the real value of asana for the Type A practitioner is being in the pose. Learning how to let go of who you are and what you have to do and just existing in the present moment is priceless. Many of us spend all day curled up in the recesses of our brains, but asana allows us to take ourselves into the body. For one brief moment,all of the emotional and intellectual storms inside and the storms outside just disappear.

Type A: Ahimsa, Asteya and Aparigraha

Type A personalities are competitive and driven. They push themselves through life, always striving to get ahead. Often, however, they don't stop to realize they already are ahead, or take the time to appreciate what they have. Three "A" yoga principles can go a long way towards helping shift a Type A person's perspective on the world: