First Annual Food/Restaurant Review

Hey, a yogi has to eat doesn’t she?

We were talking about food the other day in class and someone asked if what we talked about would be in my newsletter, so here goes:

Vegetarian restaurants:

Sprig & Vine in New Hope:Nice atmosphere, vegan, BYOB.

Blue Sage Vegetarian Grille in Southampton:Small, popular place.  Reservations are a must.  BYOB.

NellieRae’s Kitchen in Ottsville:A vegetarian café.  Only open for breakfast and lunch.I haven’t tried this place yet, but everyone says it’s good 

Italian Pizza Places:

Spuntino Wood Fired Pizzeria: Doylestown,  in the mall across from the Gap.Pizza in 90 seconds.  Individual sized pizzas only, gourmet toppings, sourdough crust.  Amazing!

Bacco Bistro in Doylestown:Extensive Italian menu.  One favorite pizza is the Drunken Brooklyn – vodka sauce and mozzarella.A friend of mine always uses these folks to cater his events.

Goombas in Colmar:
A Philly style joint.  You can’t eat there, it’s just take out.  14”, 18” and 30” pies.  Good homemade sauce.  The best sandwiches – but they are large.  My family likes the Porcetta alla Rabe – roast pork, aged provolone and broccoli rabe.  I like the Grilled Veggie - Grilled broccoli rabe, eggplant, onions, roasted peppers, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, with aged provolone.And, of course, (although it’s not Italian) 

Jule’s Thin Crust in Doylestown:A great selection of different types of toppings.  Great for a slice or to take a whole pie home.

Japanese:

Ooka in Doylestown, of course!All-time favorite Japanese restaurant.  I'm not into the Hibachi tables.

Hachi in Chalfont:It's in the Giant Shopping center on 202.  It's a little further for us and its small, so I always make a reservation.  Because it's BYOB it's less expensive.

My Current Favorite Restaurant:

Maize in Perkasie:Small cozy place in Perkasie.  Great food, cooked to order.  It's slow; be prepared to be there for a while. Bring a good friend, your favorite beverage and enjoy! Want to add?

Just For Fun - Word Play

Just for Fun: Word Play!

For years, an email has been circulating about the “Washington Post's Mensa invitational,” which includes a very clever list of words made by changing common words.

The most recent email circulation listed the “2009 winners.”   Those of you who have received this email probably noticed it was very similar to the “2008 winners.”  In fact, they’re also very similar to many of the 1998 winners!  (UPDATE: The very same "2014" list is now in circulation – check Google!)

So, many, many years ago, someone ran a contest and it’s been circulating on the internet ever since.

But hey, it’s a good idea.  And it's really funny!

Here are the winners:
1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.
2. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an asshole.
3. Intaxicaton: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.
4. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.
5. Bozone ( n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
6. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.
7. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high
8. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
9. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
10. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)
11. Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.
12. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.
13. Glibido: All talk and no action.
14. Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
15. Arachnoleptic Fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.
16. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
17. Caterpallor ( n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.

 The Washington Post has also published the winning submissions to its yearly contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words.
And the winners are:
1. Coffee, n. The person upon whom one coughs.
2. Flabbergasted, adj. Appalled by discovering how much weight one has gained.
3. Abdicate, v. To give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
4. esplanade, v. To attempt an explanation while drunk.
5. Willy-nilly, adj. Impotent.
6. Negligent, adj. Absentmindedly answering the door when wearing only a nightgown.
7. Lymph, v. To walk with a lisp.
8. Gargoyle, n. Olive-flavored mouthwash.
9. Flatulence, n. Emergency vehicle that picks up someone who has been run over by a steamroller.
10. Balderdash, n. A rapidly receding hairline.
11. Testicle, n. A humorous question on an exam.
12. Rectitude, n. The formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.
13. Pokemon, n. A Rastafarian proctologist.
14. Oyster, n. A person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.
15. Frisbeetarianism, n. The belief that, after death, the soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.
16. Circumvent, n. An opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.

I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did!

Can Yoga Cause a Stroke?

Can yoga cause a stroke? Apparently so.

My yoga classes were buzzing last week with the story of a yoga teacher who suffered a stroke. Some of them just wanted to talk about the story and some of them were concerned for their own health and safety.

I had heard about the story, but I hadn’t looked into it. At first I assumed it was one of those random events where somebody had something inside of them that they didn’t know about: a ticking, internal time bomb that could go off at any time. When I looked into the story, I realized that was not the case. And that this story was not what I typically associated with a stroke. This was more of a preventable accident. The woman actually tore the carotid artery in her neck while performing a yoga pose which caused a blood clot to travel to her brain.

Rebecca Leigh was an Instagram star, posting pictures to her 26,000 fans. She suffered an injury while she was doing a pose called a hollow back handstand. It seems that she was working hard in the pose to get it perfect for her many fans and she pushed herself too far.

Rebecca Leigh in the hospital and performing a hollow back handstand

This incident happened in May of 2017. I’m not sure why it is making the rounds now, but it is a good cautionary tale. Any activity, including yoga, can be dangerous. Some of it depends on your health history. You know that saying about consulting your doctor before you embark on any exercise regime, right?! How many of us do that? Some of the conditions that predispose you to stroke are obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. If you have any of these conditions, check with your doctor to see what you should or should not be doing, not your yoga teacher.(Although, please let me know if you have any of these conditions.) Once your doctor has cleared you to do things, or suggested you don’t do certain things, that’s where your yoga teacher comes in. I can help you build towards a pose over time if appropriate, or find a suitable modification for a pose that you shouldn’t do.

While she survived the ordeal, Ms. Leigh still suffers the consequences of what she did. She has trouble speaking and suffers headaches. She cautions people not to push themselves in yoga, to take their time, go easy, be patient. This is always the advice in yoga, but our ego can get in the way and sometimes we want to go just a little bit further to try a little bit harder. We often want our results now.  It is important to work on maintaining good alignment from the beginning in any pose.  Start with the foundation and work gradually and intelligently from there.  Often students think that they are more advanced than they are and just want to achieve the pose. This story is a dramatic reminder to be patient and work within your abilities and limitations.

In the book How Yoga Works, Miss Friday asks her student The Captain to try to touch his toes while standing up. He bends forward and his fingers are about a foot off the ground. She grabs some stacks of paper off of his desk and puts them on the floor under his hands until his fingertips reach the top of the stack. Then she tells him to practice this pose every day, but that he can only remove one sheet of paper a day. The Captain gets dejected when he looks at the 1,000 or so sheets of paper that are stacked up under his fingers. He reckons that it will take more than three years to touch the floor. But really, what’s the hurry? There are no prizes for achieving a pose and there certainly are consequences for pushing ourselves too far.

One of the things I thought was interesting, and scary, is that despite having trouble with vision and the use of her left arm, it took this woman 2 days to get to the hospital to be looked at. This story is a good reminder that it is better to be checked out right away than it is to sleep on it and see how you feel in the morning. Fast treatment can lessen the brain damage that stroke can cause.

Here are the warning signs for stroke. The CDC uses the acronym F.A.S.T. to help you remember:
Acting F.A.S.T. Is Key for Stroke

When someone is having a stroke, every minute counts. Just as putting out a fire quickly can stop it from spreading, treating a stroke quickly can reduce damage to the brain. If you learn how to recognize the telltale signs of a stroke, you can act quickly and save a life—maybe even your own.

Acting F.A.S.T. can help stroke patients get the treatments they desperately need. The stroke treatments that work best are available only if the stroke is recognized and diagnosed within 3 hours of the first symptoms. Stroke patients may not be eligible for these if they don’t arrive at the hospital in time.

If you think someone may be having a stroke, act F.A.S.T. and do the following simple test:
F—Face: Ask the person to smile. Does one side of the face droop?
A—Arms: Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?
S—Speech: Ask the person to repeat a simple phrase. Is the speech slurred or strange?
T—Time: If you see any of these signs, call 9-1-1 right away.

If you want to read more about strokes, here is the link to the CDC pages.

Why so many blankets for Shoulder Stand?

Why so many blankets for Shoulder Stand? 

My student teachers often ask why Shoulder Stand isn’t taught more frequently.  The answer is probably because it requires a lot of time and effort to do it correctly.  Salamba Sarvangasana is a challenging pose to teach to safely.  The teacher needs to understand the proper body mechanics and range of motion of the neck and then needs to teach the proper folding and use of blankets and belts to do the pose.  There is also a level of studentship, called adikara in Sanskrit, where the student has to take responsibility for following directions and using the props.  Some students don't want to take the time to get all of the props and use them correctly; they just want to do the pose.

However, the normal range of motion for the neck is only 45 degrees.  If you were to do Shoulder Stand without blankets, it would require the neck to bend 90 degrees, double what it can normally do.  This would put a lot of strain on the last cervical vertebrae and the first thoracic to get those extra degrees of flexion.  This is not good for the discs in the  neck.  We use blankets in Shoulder Stand to make up the difference for the degree of available neck flexion and trying to get the body to be vertical in an upside-down version of Tadasana.  That way the neck is supported in its normal range of motion.

Here is a picture of me standing in an upright version of Shoulder Stand.  As you can see, my neck is bent to its maximum range of motion and it is nowhere near 90 degrees to my torso.  Notice my hands are on my back with my elbows as high as my shoulders.

"Upside Down" Shoulder Stand

If you turned me upside down, as I would be in regular Shoulder Stand, you would have to make up the difference between the tops of my arms and the back of my head.  This is where the blankets come in.  They raise the floor under my arms so that my neck is not over-flexed.

The black line represents the floor. The two arrows represent the difference in height between the floor and my upper arms. The discrepancy between the height of the elbow and the shoulder gets equaled out under the weight of the body.

The blankets have to be folded precisely so that the height of the blanket is consistent from my shoulders to the tips of my elbows.  This gives me a firm platform to balance on.  The other thing is that my upper arms need to be on the sticky mat with no fabric between my skin and the mat.  Fabric tends to be slippery and the skin slides on it.  This would cause the elbows to wing out and then the pose would collapse onto your upper back.  Also, if you raise the arms up with the blankets, you need to raise the floor so that the buttocks are at least the same height as the blankets.  That makes it easier to go up and come down.

Blanket set up for Shoulder Stand

Here is what Shoulder Stand would look like if you did not use blankets.  Since you cannot safely bend your neck 90 degrees, your torso would be angled backwards and your legs would be counter balanced forward. This causes your posture to be "piked".

Notice the tension in my neck to get my torso to bend 90 degrees without blankets.

Now, if your shoulders are tight, you also need a belt.  How can you tell if your shoulders are tight?  Stand in front of a mirror and place your hands on your back as if you were in Shoulder Stand.  There are two things to look for:

First, if you place your hands on your back as if you were doing shoulder Stand, can you draw your elbows towards each other in adduction behind your back to make your elbows invisible to yourself looking in the mirror?  If not, you definitely need to belt your elbows in Shoulder Stand to keep them from winging out and to keep your pose from collapsing onto your neck and upper back.

Elbows winging out. This is why you need a belt!

Elbows hugging in. Even though I can get my elbows to hug in, I still use a belt. My body weight makes it harder to keep my elbows hugging in and over time, as I get fatigued holding the pose, my elbows will start to slide apart. A belt helps prevent that.

Second, if you look at yourself from the side, with your elbows squeezing in toward the midline, can you get your elbows as high as your shoulders without rounding your shoulders forward or bending forward; stay in Tadasna.  If you cannot, your shoulders are tight in extension.  See the picture titled "Upside Down" Shoulder Stand above.

There are 2 ways to go up into Shoulder Stand and put a belt on your arms:  One is to go over into Plough and put a belt on your biceps at your elbow creases and the other is to go up the wall and lift your hips as if to do Bridge and then put the belt on your arms.  Once the belt is on your arms, then you lift yourself all the way up into Sarvangasana.  When you come down, just reverse the action.  Take the belt off at the same point you put it on.  Please don’t come down and lay on your arms with your elbows belted.

Getting ready to go up into Shoulder Stand. Notice my head is on the lower blanket. My neck can "feel" the edge of the two stacked blankets and my shoulders are on the sticky mat, which is about 3 or so inches back from the edge. This is so that when I roll up into Shoulder Stand, my shoulders do not roll off of the blanket stack compressing my neck. I have the belt looped (and measured to my shoulder width) over one arm. This way I can find it and put it on the other arm once I am in Plow.

Going into Plow and putting a belt on both arms. Notice that my hips are directly over my shoulders and my back is as straight as it would be in Tadasana.

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Shoulder Stand, full Pose. Notice how vertical my body is. The blankets under my shoulders help me to achieve that. Also, notice how wide the blankets are. Everything from my shoulders to my elbow must be supported at the same height. My neck and head should be on blanket so they can slide and adjust. My elbows should be on mat so that they cannot slide apart. Plus the belt helps me with that, too.

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Lastly, when you come down, please do not let your head whiplash forward.  Use your abdominals to control the descent of your hips and keep the back of your head down on the floor.  Make sure you have something under your hips so that they don't drop below the level of the blankets.  That is what causes your head to pop up off the floor.

When you come down, come through Plow and take your belt off.  Then unroll and stay there for a few minutes.  I like to slide back so that my head, shoulders and arms are on the level of the floor and my lower back and hips are on the blanket/mat stack.  You can bring your feet together into Cobbler's Pose.  (I'll update this post with a picture of that, soon!) Stay here for at least 5 minutes, or finish in Savasana if you choose.

Questions?  If any of this is not clear, feel free to leave a comment below.  Also, if I need any other pictures to demonstrate any of these principles better, please let me know.

How to charge for your time as a yoga teacher

The Art of Pricing

Often I get asked by new yoga teachers what they should charge for teaching a specialty class or a private outside of a yoga studio. In this article, I will discuss what to charge for teaching a one off specialty class at some location. In future articles I will address pricing for privates and workshops.

Those specialty pricing questions are often tricky. If you price yourself too high, then you might price yourself out of the job. Too low and you will regret doing it, especially if it is a recurring class. If it is just one and done, then it doesn’t really matter. You’ll learn from the experience whether you felt like you charged the right amount or not and know better for next time.

Some of what you charge depends on whether you really want to do the class or not! However, don’t scalp the person just because you don’t want to do the job. The ethical thing to do if you really don’t want to teach the class is to politely decline and maybe recommend a friend for the job. Sometimes, especially in the beginning, you need to say “yes” a lot. You never know what connections you might make, or which gigs could lead to other opportunities.

It is also ok to do a one-off, specialty classes for free. A friend asked me to teach a class of goat yoga for a fundraiser she was doing. I had never taught goat yoga before and really didn’t know what to expect. Since it was a charitable event I decided to do it for free and donated my time. I googled goat yoga and prepared myself. It was fun and it was a successful event for her but I decided that it wasn’t for me. The next time someone asks me to do goat yoga, I can politely decline and recommend some colleagues.

To figure out your hourly rate it helps to have a formula. What do you get paid at the yoga studio where you work? How does that number feel as an hourly rate? Often, you get paid less teaching a regular, repeating class than you would teaching a one-time private. What does your studio charge for a private with you? If you don’t work for a studio, you can usually inquire what a private session costs at a yoga studio in order to get a ball park. Call around, you may be surprised at the variations! It’s harder to find out what yoga teachers get paid for a class. That info is usually private and it depends on several factors. Yoga teachers make more in big cities than their rural counterparts. Pay also varies with experience and expertise and ultimately how many students you can attract.

Typically yoga teachers anywhere from $20 for a newer, inexperienced yoga teacher up to $100 an hour for a seasoned, popular teacher with a following in a big city. Once you have some of these numbers, you can play with them in a formula and come up with a price.
Let’s say that the class somebody wants you teach for them at their store, arboretum, office or back yard is an hour long. It takes you 30 minutes to get there and 30 minutes to get back. So you have 2 hours of your time invested in this class. If you figure that your hourly rate is $25, ask for $50 for the two hours. If that doesn’t feel like enough, plug in $30 an hour and now you’re up to $60.

Try different numbers until you feel justified in asking for that rate without apologizing. You have to feel comfortable asking for your price because once you commit you cannot change your mind. Also, you have to be just as comfortable with them saying that you are asking for too much money. Individuals and smaller operations typically can’t afford as much as larger business or corporations. But you still have to be able to look someone in the eye and ask for your price. If you can’t do that, then that is a sign that you are not asking for the right amount.
If the commute time, one way, is longer than the amount of time you are actually teaching, you might want to seriously consider passing this off to a colleague. People want to pay you for what you are doing for them, not necessarily for driving to get to them. I’ve taught some classes about an hour from my where I work for the experience and the exposure, but I have never gotten any students from that area as it is just too far for those students to travel to find me and in the end it wasn’t really worth it.

Sometimes people don’t want to pay what I charge for my time and that’s ok with me. I have a lot of training and experience. I’m also fortunate that my schedule is pretty full and that I can’t say yes to every opportunity that comes along. I’ve also learned from being miserable doing something that really wasn’t worth my time. Because I also train yoga teachers, I often can refer other teachers for jobs that I don’t want to do or can’t do. There is also good karma in that, sharing the wealth and opportunities.

As you can see, pricing is an art, not a science. While it helps to have a formula, you often have to go with your gut. And remember that pricing is ultimately an energy exchange. It should feel good to both parties in order for it to work.

Good luck. And let me know in the comments below if this was helpful, or if you have any other questions.

A Lesson in How to Shake it Off

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

MORAL :
Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up.

Yoga for Your 50’s, 60’s and Beyond!

Surrender is often the hardest spiritual practice.

We have to constantly learn to let go of things, especially as we age. This is as true in yoga as it is in life.

This is certainly something I am thinking about as I have just turned the corner on 60.

I know that I am quite strong and flexible for my age. I am fortunate that I have always been interested in being physically fit and active. That means in some ways it is easier to maintain what I already have achieved. I also started doing yoga in my 20’s when a lot of physical things were easier than they are now. And although I was not very flexible when I started, I became flexible with dedication over time. These two steps of dedication and time are important to a yoga practice no matter the age of the practitioner.

Y.S. 1.14  Sa tu dirgha kala nairantarya satkara adara asevito drdhabhumih
It is only when the correct practice is followed for a long time, without interruptions and with a quality of positive attitude and eagerness, that it can succeed.

My yoga practice was much different when I was younger. I was more interested in the physical workout than the internal one. As you can see by my quoting of the Yoga Sutras, that my interest has shifted, I am still interested in the physical practice, but I am now much more interested in the mental, emotional and spiritual practices. This is a typical pattern followed by many aging yogis before me.

My practice and even my teaching has changed as I have gotten older. Although I started off in the Iyengar tradition, I practiced and taught other forms of yoga that provided more of a workout during my 30’s and 40’s. Perhaps it was age, or maybe it was the slight physical imperfections of scoliosis combined with arthritis and injuries over years of being physically active that have impelled me to look again and return to the therapeutics of an Iyengar practice. I am less and less interested in moving fast through poses and more interested in spending time and finding balance and equanimity in the postures. I am more interested in developing my buddhi, rather than my booty. I am very interested in the benefits and subtleties subtleties of the poses, revisiting them and deepening them over time. Every pose changes over time as your body changes and your understanding, proprioception and ability changes.

I am still interested in a strong yoga practice, one designed to build strength, stamina, flexibility and equanimity. And I believe that it is possible to do so at any age, no matter if you have been doing yoga for many years, or just starting in retirement. The key to a sustainable yoga practice is working with what you have, being dedicated to practicing, keeping curious about what you might be able to do, being patient with your progress and moving step by step.

I'll see you on your mat!

This is what my version of 60 looks like.

Decade birthdays have always been major milestones for me. I was a teacher in a K-12 school when I turned 30.  All of a sudden the students considered me old.  I shouldn’t have been surprised. I remember a conversation I had with my mother about my kindergarten teacher, Miss Roosevelt.  I thought she was an elderly woman in her 60s.  My mom told me that she was in her 20s!  Age is relative. And it definitely depends on who is doing the aging.

At 40 I had my midlife crisis.  I quit my job, moved out of the house I was literally born in and adopted my son.  I remember feeling not only the biological clock ticking, but also a greater sense of the impermanence of things with my dad passing away a few years prior.

For my 50th birthday I decided that I wanted to do something special for myself.  It was one of those mom fantasies.  My son was ten and as much as I loved him (and still do), I needed some me time.  The  Yoga Journal Conference in San Francisco  happens every year around my birthday and I always wanted to go.  So, I decided that was the year.  While I was there I had my palm read.  The guy was good.  He looked at my hand and without asking me any questions told me that I was a teacher and a scholar (so true) and had been so for many lifetimes.  He also read that I had some major life changes in my 40’s (see above) and that I would have some more in my mid 50’s (my mother!)  He also told me that I would work for my entire lifetime.  Since I apparently have a long life line I guess retirement is not in my near future.  Maybe someday I can shoot for being the world’s oldest yoga teacher!

After my 50th birthday extravaganza, I decided that, for my 60th, I wanted to spend time with my family and friends.  Mitchell and I are taking a trip together and visiting some friends along the way.

Each decade has felt a little like a leap into the unknown and a time for leaving some things behind and taking up other new and different things.  Getting older in our culture is a challenge with so much focus on youth and beauty.  Like others before me, I don’t necessarily feel any older on the inside.  Yes, there are aches and pains at times and I cannot ride my bike as fast or run as fast as people half my age, but I am still out there doing the things I love to do.

I am grateful for my yoga practice all through these years.  I credit yoga with keeping me healthy physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.  My focus in the practice has definitely changed over time.  In the beginning I did it for relaxation.  Then, as the popularity of yoga increased, I got swept up in the physical practice and achieving poses. Although I never felt comfortable with posting poses on Instagram, students do want to know what you are capable of doing physically.  Now, I am more interested in how the physical practice influences my internal world.  I know that strength, balance and flexibility are important as we get older.  But so is contentment, clarity and peace.

As an older yoga teacher I face my own physical limitations of an aging body.  One thing I have had to let go of is that I no longer attract young students who are only in it for the physical practice.   As I move into this next decade of my life, I leap with the guidance of many others who have gone before me, I am holding the hands of those who are moving with me and I hope to light the way for those who come after me.

As I move into this next decade, the physical practice is still important.  Mr. Iyengar taught that when the body is dull, the mind can become dull, So I will continue to practice and explore the poses, but the physical body is only one of the five sheaths of the body.  There is also the energetic sheath of the breath, the mental sheath of the senses, the intellectual sheath of the mind and the blissful sheath of exploring the inner Self.  I hope to keep exploring the many layers of this practice called yoga with you for years to come.

What happens when your body lets you down?

On my City to Shore MS bike ride this year, I witnessed two events that gave me pause to stop and reflect.

The things you can’t prepare for.
The first was an accident, a lapse of attention. Someone ran into the wheel of the cyclist in front of him and down he went. The guy was scraped up and bruised pretty badly, but nothing broken, on his body anyway. His bike was damaged, but that can be fixed. If we could be mindful and fully present all of the time, these things wouldn’t happen. But, that is easier said than done. I read somewhere that the average person loses their attention an average of six times a minute!

Reflection: Bicycling can be a dangerous sport. It is important to pay attention to your surroundings as you ride. Just like driving, you need to ride defensively.

And the things you can.
The second event, could have been an accident, except that there may have been other contributing factors to a rider who suffered from heat stroke. Was this a condition of this man’s body letting him down? Or was it him not listening to his body? Had he trained for this event, or had he just willed his body to participate in it? Riding 75 to 100 miles is not something you can do on a whim. You need to prepare for it.

Through my work personally training dozens of people over the years, I have heard many times people complain that they can’t do something and they wish that they could. They often feel frustrated and that their body has let them down. Very few people understand how their body works. It seems as if they want their body to perform by imposing their will over it rather than doing what is necessary to have their body function optimally.

Our bodies talk to us all of the time. Unfortunately these messages are non-verbal and you have to know how to interpret them. Often pain, discomfort and unease are the body telling us that something is wrong. The next time your body doesn’t perform the way you want it to, instead of wondering how your body has let you down. Ask how you may have let down your body.

We all know how important the following things are to our health:
Sleep
Food
Hydration
Movement
Relationships
Spirituality
Connection to Community

But there are two questions to ask yourself about these things.  First what is the quantity of each item on the list.  Second is what is the quality?

Reflection: You don’t play the game to stay in shape. You stay in shape to play the game.

Making Choices to be Healthy

What do you really need to do to be healthy?  Is it the food you eat?  Exercise?  What about your creative health?  Financial health? Spiritual health?  Do you find time to relax or meditate?  I think all of these factors come into play and contribute to your health and sense of well being.  Lissa Rankin, a physician, speaker, founder of the Whole Health Medicine Institute, and mystic depicts your health as a cairn, a human made pile of stones, with each stone representing an aspect of your health.

Medical Intuitive Caroline Myss has spent the last 35 years learning about how people can heal and why they don’t.  In many of her talks, I have heard her say that food and exercise don’t matter as much as the power of the choices we make on a daily basis.  She often says that you can eat cat food and still be healthy provided you are able to live in present time; that you don’t spend your energy rehashing the past and worrying about the future.  Her work centers on where we are losing energy.  Just like a financial debt, if you continue to drain your resources pretty soon you will have nothing left.

This sounds very much in line with the teachings of yoga and mindfulness.  We need to learn to live in the present moment. What does that mean?  Live with integrity.  Pass on your wisdom, not your woe, learn from your mistakes.  Make a choice to take risks.  How many risks have you already taken in your life to get where you are today?  Make a list of them to help you remember. Don’t wait for proof that your actions will turn out successfully, not all of them will.  But, as famous guru Shri Wayne Gretzky-ananda said, “I didn’t make 100% of the shots I didn’t take.”

Don’t look backwards for guidance.  The reason you are where you are is because that part of your life is over.  Look forward to new adventures.  Trust that your resourcefulness that brought you this far will continue to serve you.

Caroline Myss says that we need to pay attention to our words; our words are universes unto themselves.  Each word we use has the power to shape our world.  She teaches that there are toxic words and that these words should be banished from our vocabulary.  Ms. Myss suggests that there are three toxic words that we should banish from our vocabulary: blame, deserve and entitlement.

Blame.  You have probably all heard the expression that no one has the power to ruin our day unless we let them.  We are responsible for our own happiness.  Other people may do things that intersect with our lives, but they are acting upon their own ideas and principles.  If we blame them for our unhappiness we are giving away our own power.

Deserve.  There are a lot of things that happen to us that we don’t deserve, stuff just happens. My mother didn’t deserve to get Alzheimer’s, it just happened. People don’t deserve to win the lottery, it’s just chance.

Entitled.  We really aren’t entitled to anything.  We often just think we should be.

The practice of banishing these words from your vocabulary is very similar to the complaining fast I invited students to go on a while ago.  Think of this as an elimination diet where you eliminate a food from your diet to see if your symptoms go away.  Try giving up one of these words for a day or a week and see if it has an impact on your life.  Just like a food, it may take longer than a day or a week to get it completely out of your system, however, so be patient and give it time.

At the end of her TED talk, Caroline Myss asks us to make this choice to be healthy.  She says, “Make the choice everyday to get up every day and bless your day.  Don’t be grateful for the things you have because these things can change.  Wake up every day and bless the fact that you are alive and things will never be exactly this way again; these people, this situation will never be exactly this way again.  Appreciate the gift of being alive.  If you can wake up this way every day, this shapes your life with grace and beauty."

What choices can you make to live a happier and more fulfilled life?