


Placing The Body In A Spiritual Tradition
Along the yoga journey, many of us wind up studying anatomy in some form or another. The exercise can be a chore to scratch off the “to-do” list, or it can be profound and inspiring. Enter Amy Matthews, head of the Body-Mind Centering & Yoga program. Amy synthesizes her deep knowledge of anatomy with philosophy and movement to create experiential anatomy that delights the curious mind and resonates in the heart and bones. For example, if someone habitually tightens their back muscles to feel ‘strong’ or their hamstrings to feel ‘grounded,’ they can stretch and stretch those muscles, but not increase their range of motion because whenever they stop stretching, they will go back to tightening up those muscles. Instead, I often find that if I educate someone about other ways to feel stable or centered or grounded (by sensing where their spine is, for example), the ‘tight spots’ let go, more movement is possible, and stretching isn’t necessary. AM: Yes it helps prevent injuries, and as a culture, we abdicate responsibility for our own bodies. I feel that BMC and Laban give us opportunities for knowing the self-- so I decide am the one who decides what I want to do and when I’ve done enough. When I don’t take responsibility of knowing when I’ve done enough is when I get hurt. Knowing where my edge is, where I’m comfortable playing—not that we don’t ever try to expand past our comfort zone and grow - but if I grow, I direct that. I play to the new edge and I stop when it’s enough. I won’t let someone else tell me when I’m good enough, when I’ve worked hard enough, when I get to say “that’s enough.” AM: Yes, and in that, it’s important to give permission to do things differently. This is where it bleeds over into education. People learn in all kinds of different ways. “There are many right ways to do something” is a radical statement in our culture and underlies what I’m trying to do—to empower people to say “my way is right for me, and your way is right for you, and how can we be in relationship?” AM: No I wouldn’t say that. We set out to help people. And there’s certainly a therapeutic aspect of it. If you came to me with a specific thing, like a thyroid problem—this is my approach--I would make it an educational experience. Explain the endocrine system and how it works. Another might use the hands-on work of BMC to practice explorations with you, and see what is possible. Amy Matthews teaches Embodied Anatomy at The Breathing Project. To find out more, click here. |
William Broad Rethinks
With the publication of the New York Times Magazine article “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body”, the New York City yoga community has been aflurry with responses, questions, criticisms and reactions to the article and its implications. |
With A Classical Past
I walked into a brightly lit Soho loft and psychic / reiki master / sound healer / classical flutist / and 4th generation chaneller Karin Marcello met me at the elevator. She had a big smile on her face and was wearing a hot pink one-shouldered dress over yoga pants. The outfit alone sums up her personality: charismatic and warm. Karin is from Long Island and still lives there when she’s not traveling to India or Spain to deepen her study of the crystal singing bowls, bansuri flute or yoga.
As I listened, I reflected on Karin’s unique history. After finishing a master’s degree at the University of Chicago in flute performance in 2002, Karin traveled to Spain, where she met the Sufi master who would become her singing bowl teacher, and where she received a life-changing sound healing session. From that moment on, Karin’s path was clear; any previous doubts about her career evaporated, she came back to New York, purchased two bowls, and with her teacher’s blessing began to offer long-format sound healings, which is primarily what sets her apart from other sound healers.
As she rang and sang the crystal bowls of different sizes and pitches (which by the way, sounded just like the metal bowls that I know), Karin led us through a gentle breathing meditation. The relaxing and enjoyable sounds of the bowls mixed with Karin’s calm voice and I found myself drifting effortlessly into a deep and restful sleep. Although Karin doesn’t seem to incorporate yoga into the healing session, she does include a few notes on the breathy bansuri flute and she also uses the Japanese technique of reiki, a healing and stress reducing method thought to increase life force energy in all sentient beings. I awoke from sleep to the chaos of ringing and singing, of colliding pitches and pulsations, to the beating waves of sound, one against another. Karin was “toning” or singing vowel sounds either at the same pitch as the bowls, or just below or just above, creating an eerie palate of tone colors. Dissonance to consonance and back again. Beautiful, strange, wailful, haunting and serene. Admittedly a little jarring at times, how would the music give me reprieve from my anxious life? After an incredible night’s sleep, I knew that my sense of groundedness and relaxation could only be the result of the sound healing from the night before. I felt a great sense of rest and ease at a physical level, deep in my bones, which is something I haven’t felt very often in my life. For Karin, who runs her sound healing sessions intuitively, according to the energetic demands of the participants, the whole art of healing is completely interdisciplinary. Not surprisingly, early 20th century channeler Edgar Cayce, the father of holistic medicine, who considered sound the medicine of the future, was one of her first inspirations. “If you’re not working on yourself,” she mused, “if your mind is well trained but your body isn’t healthy, or if you’re in good shape but you’re not grounded…” then you don’t get all the benefits. The benefits of sound healing, according to Karin, include better sleep, less anxiety, and improved physical health. She says “the healing starts after clients leave and go home,” and for some, the healing works as a clearing out session, helping clients make better emotional choices or it helps them feel mentally ready to start developing a regular meditation practice. Karen’s next session is on March 7th at 6:30 pm, at a private residence. To register call Karin at 631-220- 5228. For $45 you can sign up for the two-hour group sound healing session or contact Karin directly for info about privates. |
"Looser, More Focused, And More Competitive"
New York is jock town with our boutique boxing gyms, weight lifting contests, tennis courts and marathons for every good cause. Maybe we need it to blow off steam. But more and more athletes are finding that adding yoga to their mix helps them with their mental focus, physical strength and flexibility.
Are there any physical moves that have shifted since you started yoga?
Has that shifted since you started yoga?
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A Yoga Activist Goes To Africa
I met Lenny Williams, the founder of Mandala House, at a yoga teacher training a few years ago. We shared a passion for yoga as a healing art and a love of cupcakes. However, whereas I had turned my attention on survivors of sexual trauma in our city, Lenny had her eyes on the world. |
A Powerful Lifestyle Change
If someone had suggested years ago that I would become a raw foodist, I would have laughed them out of town. What could be more wholesome than bread fresh from the oven, or a big bowl of soup? Well, chew on this salad. As I’ve gradually developed a taste for all things green and crunchy, I’ve not only reaped many health benefits - but also witnessed dramatic personal transformations and a profound deepening of my yoga practice. According to many nutritional experts, raw fruits and vegetables have a higher nutrient content than cooked food. They’re also high in antioxidants and some are easier to digest than cooked food. Raw fruits and vegetables are loaded with enzymes, vitamins, minerals, protein, fiber, and oxygen. They also have a high water content compared to many cooked and processed foods. A raw food diet, done properly, gives our bodies everything we need to function most efficiently. At first I would sneak some pizza or a sugar fix after his thoughtfully prepared dinners. But to my surprise, this strange new way of eating began to grow on me. Now I actually love and crave these life-enhancing foods. As I became more consistent with eating raw, I felt incredibly good, vibrant and energetic. My muscles became leaner and less bulky but stronger than ever, allowing me to move effortlessly into poses like Malasana (garland) and Mayurasana (peacock) that seemed unattainable before. A lot of the health problems that used to plague me such as headaches, colds, joint pain, and sinus congestion cleared up. As my body’s nutritional needs were more satisfied by my diet, my cravings for unhealthy foods diminished. I began to break free from compulsive habits like late-night snacks and mid-afternoon coffee breaks. My mind grew clearer and more calm. Meditation became something I often wanted to do, rather than a chore. In spite of all these benefits, I was still not chomping at the bit to become a dedicated raw foodist. It’s amazing how many social occasions center around eating, and it was a challenge for me to maintain this lifestyle and still stay connected with friends and family. I wanted to ‘have my cake and eat it too,’ enjoying raw when it suited me, and then dipping back into indulgences like baked goods or a nice greasy plate of French fries when the mood struck. What finally transformed me from ‘accidental’ to intentional raw foodist was my wise body. Rebelling against the yo-yo-ing from one extreme to another, my digestive system shut down. I will spare you the gory details, but let’s just say it wasn’t pretty. Googling ‘raw foods detox symptoms’ turns up a long list, including constipation, headaches, vomiting – and I had pretty much all of them, all at once! At first I wasn’t sure what was happening to me. I’m not exaggerating when I say I thought I was dying.
It’s been a big shift, eating to satisfy my body’s needs rather than my mind’s cravings for stimulation and distraction. This leads me toward the freedom and peace of mind that Patanjali sets out as the culmination of the yoga practice. If I have tempted you and you want to explore raw foodism there are many great resources. East Tenth Street, between Avenue A and First Avenue, sports three raw food havens: Quintessence, the Juice Press, and Live Live. There are a number of web sites dedicated to raw foods as well, including Fred Bisci’s site and Matt Monarch’s marketplace. Beware: dipping your toes into this lifestyle can lead to diving in! Happy swimming… |
Marketing or Enlightenment?
I’m ranting because recently Kathryn Budig, of Yoga ToeSox fame, eloquently defended Brihony Smyth of Equinox on the Huff Po for her R-rated asana exhibition. In her Huff Po essay, she reached out to Brihony and interviews her about her life as a child pop-star, her eating disorder, her subsequent healing process and how getting naked fits into that.
--Brette Popper We Run Opinion Pieces from time to time. Let Us Know What You Think or If You Have One You'd Like To Run by emailing: publisher@yogacitynyc.com |
What About The Lady Dying Next To Me?
I’ve always regarded yoga as spiritual. Stretching your body while extending your soul to God. Heavy eh? So, when I finally got around to attending my first yoga class you can only imagine the expectations I had. I assumed it was going to quiet my raging mind, engulf me in love, bring me peace while simultaneously bringing me face to face with God. Expectations are always over the top. Preceding my growing interest in yoga I developed 24/7 subjective tinnitus. Before that, I had been dealing with a herniated disc in my neck, military neck, degenerative arthritis in my cervical spine as well as scoliosis. In the words of one of my doctors, a not-so subtle Russian, “You’ve got the spine of 50 year old.” All pain and sudden limits for exercise created depression and a great deal of anxiety. Cicadas in the brain day and night does that, you see. Yoga, God’s exercise, had to cure that! So, my quest to find a studio and most of all muster the effort to go began. I soon discovered something about yoga… it’s pricey. After a long search, I settled on a small “community” studio to take my first hot Vinyasa flow class. I was surprised when I got there to see it was an office. No bigger than my living room, carpeted with ugly office carpet and hot, indeed. The owner/instructor of the studio was a cute blond with the Yogi body! Oh thank you, thank You, God, for finding me another path to becoming the hottie I so longed to be my entire life! Xoxo. Approaching Debbie, as I will call her so I don’t get sued, I was preparing myself for the divine enlightenment she would exude but all I got was “have you been here before, sign here, that will be $10, the mat is a $2 and water is $1.” Okie… so not basking in the effervescence of her enlightened being. She’s also not interested in me trying to tell her about my injuries and my concerns over practicing for the first time. She just seems to be more concerned about collecting the cash and getting her Hot Vinyasa on. Well it’s not over just because Gandhi didn’t greet me at the door. I find a nice spot in the back where I can see her so that I can figure out if I’m doing any of this right yet where no one can see that I might not be so well versed in stretching like a holy rubber band. The heat feels good really. We all sit Indian style and Om for a bit. This is cool... My eyes are closed, breathing deeply, listening to other breathing people, quieting my mind ...then Bono? Is this conducive to bringing me closer to God? Whatever, Bono is saving the rain forest it must be right (though it’s not doing much to relax my mind). Instead I start thinking about how I first discovered U2. I was 7 years old. Ahhh… this is my first challenge in yoga, I realize, quieting my mind. Next, child’s pose. Oh, how I love this pose. I just seem to do this naturally as it comforts me and I didn’t even know it was a yoga pose. O-M-G I am a natural yogi! If you’ve taken a class I’m sure you’ve observed a lot of the basic positions are quite “natural.” It’s as if we instinctively revert to certain poses. i.e. child’s pose helps us to relax or comfort ourselves. For years, even as an adult, I’ve done this on the floor or bed and feel so cozy and comforted. So, sun salutation… wait… whaaaaa? Lil Wayne. You had a lot of crooks tryin a steal your heart, never really had luck, couldn’t never figure out how to love… how ta love. Oh, hell no. First of all I don’t need a reminder about my sad love life, secondly could someone tell this chick this is a YOGA class. I need to hear some Indian music or something. Bollywood. Sitars! Ideally, some idyllic chanting of verses from the Bhagavad-Gita. Not that I’d understand a word but I personally believe that music is part of the make-up of our souls, our spirits, therefore it’s a living force that moves us and depending on the music our spirits react instinctively to it. It can accentuate an experience or it can sweep us away from it. I was being swept away from mine. Oh Lord, I’ll breathe. I never realized that breathing is not always involuntary. I can’t tell you how many times I caught myself not breathing during class and for the most part breathing is a very useful tool in life. A few deep breaths can mean the difference between slapping someone or not going to jail. It’s im-por-tant. Stop judging me! Debbie was giving me a complex. She kept saying that we should relax and not judge ourselves if we can’t do the poses up to our expectations while standing on her head and doing what seemed like upside down shoulder presses. Shut up Deb. She was also moving a wee bit fast for a beginner’s class. Is anyone as lost as I am? Oh yeah, lady-laying-down-panting. She kept telling us to smile and laugh. Sure, lemme just wipe the stinging sweat out of eyes and catch my breath and I’ll give ya a chuckle, Deb. And what is this sitting 5 inches away from that heater madness that she’s doing? Oh. That’s where that tan comes from. Multi-tasker! 30 minutes later I was wondering what the hell I was doing in the gym all these years. I was toned. I was strong. I could leg press 100 hundred pounds. I have triceps! How could I have triceps and not be able to able to lift myself up in crow pose. Without a doubt my lack of flexibility made me feel very unsexy. I mean “flexi” is sexy right? Right leg behind me, left leg bent Indian style in front of me… wait. Wait… wait. Ow! Ow! Ow! Oh my god! What is this? Martyrdom? Yeah, becoming one with the Universe might take some practice and time. Not sure I’ll be in Yogi-bodied shape next week this time either. 75 minutes later we’re in corpse and I’m thanking God and the Universe for letting me survive this holy moley yoga experience. I’m soaked in sweat, feeling that sugar-is-way-too-low buzz, wobbly legged and rather relaxed. Oh man. I’m gonna pay tomorrow. So, perhaps yoga is a personal journey. For Deb, I guess that Bono and Lil Wayne are taking her there. It certainly forces the practice of patience with ourselves and not judging ourselves. There is no choice. You can’t force your body to do it perfectly. You can only, eventually and lovingly follow your body as it takes you on your journey to that perfect (insert pose(s) you want to master). In a class, it forces us to focus; to shut out the distractions around us like the Debs who far excel us or the panting lady that Deb hasn’t noticed but you want to run over and resuscitate . In learning not to judge ourselves harshly and being compassionate by practicing; understanding that no great thing is achieved overnight, maybe we learn to convey that to the people around us. Deep eh?
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How To Use Them Today
2012 is shaping up to be an important year for spiritual texts - several new translation of the Bhagavad Gita have appeared, New Yorkers have begun chanting the Sutras formally, and more and more yogis are taking time from asana to study the classical texts of yoga with academics from universities in the area, like Professor Edwin Bryant at Rutgers.
David Life: Svatmarama Svami compiled the Hatha Yoga Pradipika from other texts and oral tradition, in the 15th century CE. It describes 16 asana, along with pranayamas, chakras, kundalini, bandhas, kriyas, shakti, nadis and mudras among other topics. The translation of pradipika means “light on,” or we could say, “the low-down,” the “secret teachings,” the “real thing.” It is the low-down on how to yoke, or join the sun and the moon. The aim of the practices of hatha yoga, according to the Pradipika, is to be able to hear the subtle sound- nadam. DL: Well, they would not be on the top of my reading list. The top two spots have to be reserved for the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and the Bhagavad Gita of Vyasa. For one thing, these texts significantly predate the others, they explore the subject of yoga more thoroughly, and their study alone could involve many years of dedication.
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Earth Yoga Combines Hard And Soft
Earth Yoga has moved to a new beautiful space on a residential block on the Upper East Side. As you enter the warm, inviting lobby of this studio, there are earthy tones, orange walls, exposed brick and shiny wood floors. The couch is stacked with colorful pillows where students gather to chat after class. The practice space is one large room that can hold 30 students comfortably. |
Lessons Learned About Mainstream Media
The New York yoga world has seen a spate of controversial articles about yoga recently. The New York Times did a calculatedly incedendiary article about Glenn Black which got a lot of attention. New York magazine, in its classically smarmy way profiled David Regelin as a narcissistic taskmaster and “an incipient rockstar of the yoga world. ” *****
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The Roaring Lions
On a recent weekday morning, I walked into the Fort Greene Remsen Senior Center expecting to see a group of straight-faced seniors struggling through warrior one. Seated at the front, Julia mirrors all the movements for her students, and guides them in isolating each body part. The rise and fall of the seniors’ arms and legs, some rickety and slow, some twitchy and some smooth, seem to give off a sea of undulating grace as they move together. Not a glance has strayed from Julia -- a commitment to follow her every move. Then smiles begin to drench the room. By now all eyes are open and body parts are flowing. The vintage yogis are in their yoga-zone. The most common asanas are eagle arms, a modified seated, pigeon pose, (ankle to knee), padadirsasana (pranayama technique of alternative nostril breathing without holding the nostrils) and meditation.
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A Dancing Yoga Journey
In 2007, professional dancer Erica Schweer Whalen saw a fading studio in danger of becoming just another gym and decided – no way if she had anything to say about it! With her family pitching in, she took it over and regenerated it into mang’Oh Yoga, now a thriving 1200-square foot yoga space with a devoted community, of yogis ranging from their twenties to eighties. |
Stop Sex Trafficking Now!
Did you know that sex trafficking is the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world? On January 31st, some of NYC's top yoga instructors are coming together for to put an end to this international injustice. The class is being organized under the aegis of the Yoga Freedom Project. It's bringing together Off the Mat NY and The Somaly Man Foundation for the event. All the money raised will go to this non-profit organization dedicated to ending the $12 billion a year sex trafficking business. It also empowers survivors with programs for education, job skills and awareness. For Tickets, click here. |
Relevant Tool For Today
New Yorkers are in for a special treat this month as Geshe Michael Roach, the first American to receive the master of Buddhism title after twenty years of study in Tibetan monasteries, will be visiting Pure East to present a seven-night course on his own translation of the Bhagavad Gita. While stomping through the desert terrain near his Rimrock, Arizona, home—pausing to remove cactus needles from his legs—he spoke to Yogacity NYC's Jessica Mahler about the upcoming course, the trouble with translations, and the secret surprise ending of this cherished text. It’s true: Each generation’s translators always put themselves in the translation. There’s a big debate about whether that’s a corruption because if you translate something in a way that people can’t understand, then I think you’ve changed the text, you see? If you update the language but not the meaning, then you preserve the original text. It’s an interesting thing. I think the text needs to be retranslated every few generations to stay relevant. Yoga is everywhere now—it’s a huge force in the world now. People in every walk of life are doing yoga, so if they understand the deeper meaning of it, it’s a way you can make the world a more peaceful place. We recently went to Beijing and we went to a class. We didn’t understand Chinese and they don’t understand English, but we did yoga together. It’s a universal language. |
The Secrets Of Meditation
Acupuncturist James Bae who runs Samaya Education, recently had the opportunity to catch up with well-respected meditation teacher Harshada Wagner of Living Meditation, an organization that offers meditation and "awakened living" to everyone from war vets to hospital employees in hospice programs. They discussed how Harshada discovered his path, sadhana and the complex student/teacher relationship.
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A Brooklyn Premiere - This Sunday
Marisa Miller Wolfson, a vegan filmmaker got an idea while watching Super Size Me. What would happen if the eat-only-junk-food concept was reversed: what if three regular, everyday meat-and-dairy eating New Yorkers went vegan for six weeks? --Lisa Dawn Angerame Lisa Dawn Angerame is an Advanced Certified Jivamukti Yoga Teacher. In 2010 she co-founded NavaNYC, a company dedicated to bringing yoga and meditation into the workplace. Lisa Dawn lives in New York City and Northport with her yogi husband and yogi baby. Together, they own Project:Yoga, Jivamukti Yoga in Northport. Lisa Dawn also publishes a vegan food blog called Lisa’s Project Vegan. |
Inwood Rises Up
On Tuesday night at 11:30pm the future of Bread and Yoga, Inwood’s local studio and home away from home, was forever changed. A fire broke out in a vacant restaurant in the building and burned beyond repair. |
Peace In Studio By Karma Kids Yoga
It has been said that Disneyland is the happiest place on earth for fun-loving youngsters and the young at heart, but I beg to differ…Peace in Studio is giving Disneyland a run for its money by creating an especially happy place for tired teens, exhausted new moms and adults right here in New York City. That is where we need it! |
Amy Weintraub's Secrets
While the holidays inspired gathering and community, they can often leave us feeling depleted, or even lonely and depressed, when it is all over. *** |
A New Group Learns Sacred Words
Never intending to be a yoga teacher, Andrew Sugerman got hooked on the principles of yoga when he tagged along to one of Gary Kraftsow's early Viniyoga teacher trainings in Hawaii. The Deets: |
Compass Yoga
Who deserves yoga more: a cancer survivor, a war veteran or someone grieving the loss of a loved one? If you asked Christa Avampato, founder of Compass Yoga, without hesitation she'd say all three, and continue with a list of people with diabetes, Parkinson's, MS, back conditions, hip replacements, depression, dementia and then some. Though she currently works full-time at her day job, Christa is preparing to commit herself full-time to Compass Yoga in 2012. She also has a keen handle on finance so keep an eye out for her yet-to-be-published book on managing your financials with aplomb, aka without digging yourself into a hole of self-doubt and destruction. We can't wait either (honestly). Compass plans to do its own fundraising as well, to support further research, to grow the program beyond the scope of NYC and to eventually become self-funded, including providing compensation for the Karmi Angels. Specialized Compass trainings and workshops could be in the works for the future too, along with open classes for families and more formal work with children. --YogaDork |
Balancing Transitions
Consider Peter Ferko a Renaissance Yogi. He is a multi-media artist whose work ranges from photography and graphic design to musical composition. We caught up with Ferko to find out what his life is like when he’s not reflecting on Satori, running the off to teach, or writing love poems about the subway. I was lucky to bring so much prior practice into my teacher training and I got to teach at the ISHTA right away. Even with that, I have greatly helped make ends meet by doing artistic endeavors. Where are you teaching now? |
Sangha House: Mixing Modalities
Manhattan's newest yoga center, Sangha House, will kick off with a grand opening party from 11:00-4:00pm on New Year’s Day, which will include 20 minute sample yoga sessions taught by Sangha’s instructors, a Capoeira demonstration at 3:30, free 10 minute chair massage sessions, discounts on class packages, plus refreshments and a bubbly toast. All are welcome! |
The Conversation Continues
The second limb of Patanjali's ashtanga yoga is the five niyama or observances. Where the yama gave us a list of things to avoid, which were discussed last week, these principles continue the ethical work by providing ways to to deepen our practice and increase our connectedness. Saucha (cleanliness), santosha (contentment), tapas (discipline), svadhyaya (self-study), and isvara pranidhana (surrender to God) all help lead us away from chaos of the body and mind and towards a deeper understanding of our shared awareness. |
'Tis The Season!
Shortly after I graduated from my first teacher training program, I was interested in honing my own teaching skills and also wanted to use what I had learned to help others. Because my mother has Multiple Sclerosis and I’d already gained some awareness of how yoga could help people with M.S, I was eager to share this knowledge. I signed up to assist with a Level 2 mat yoga class at the Multiple Sclerosis Society in midtown. Yoga teachers should have a basic understanding of Multiple Sclerosis and its effect on recreation and fitness as well as knowledge of basic wheelchair mobility assistive techniques (the chapter does offer training). Email ChristinaMcSwain@nmss.org to set up a volunteer intake session and placement interview. |
How This Philosophy Is Relevant Today
The first of Patanjali's 8 limbs of yoga, the yama, are half of yoga's ethical and moral guide on how to live a better life. But many of us come to the mat without a lot of background in ancient texts and even less of an idea how to implement these seemingly arcane concepts into our practices and lives. In this first of a two-part series on the ethics of yoga, Alex Phelan asks four NYC yogis, Swami Sadasivananda, Mark Wolz, Lesley Desaulniers and Nikki Costello (bios follow) about their own understanding of the yama in their lives and their classes. SS: As the ethics, they are the foundation of spiritual life. While it can seem difficult to achieve other goals, like meditation, you can practice the yama all the time. MW: They are a constant reminder that helps to keep me conscious because I need to be very alert to observe them. SS: The yama have to find their expression in everyone's life in the form of self control. Not as suppression but by identifying the desires you have that curtail your freedom and removing those obstacles. SS: It really means the control of all senses and the mind in its totality, not just in regards to the sexual; any form of indulgence is a break in brahmacharya. You preserve your energy in order to use it for spiritual work. SS: There are many desires and a few needs. Once you fulfill a need it subsides, whereas desires, once fulfilled, continue to grow. I have a problem with too many books, for example. Any kind of excessive accumulation is hoarding, so aparigraha means not being psychologically dependent on something that you have so that you always desire more. SS: I think this is a matter of education. It is our responsibility to teach the idea that yoga is not just asana and pranayama, but that the yama are the foundation of the practice. |
It's Easy!
I basically taught myself to cook. When I was young, I loved spending time with my mom shopping for ingredients at the specialty food stores near our house and being in the kitchen with her. Although my mom's repertoire was very small, I learned to make all of her dishes, the comfort foods of my childhood. I have also been watching cooking shows since high school. There was a chef who had a blue kitchen... Lisa Dawn Angerame is an Advanced Certified Jivamukti Yoga Teacher. In 2010 she co-founded NavaNYC, a company dedicated to bringing yoga and meditation into the workplace. Lisa Dawn lives in New York City and Northport with her yogi husband and yogi baby. Together, they own Project:Yoga, Jivamukti Yoga in Northport. Lisa Dawn publishes a vegan food blog called Lisa’s Project Vegan.
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New York, Amsterdam, Planet Earth. . .
“With one breath, with one flow “When you open your ears and listen deeply you can tune in like a radio,” says Nora. “You can ride on other people's waves of prana. I am sure we can have a pranic rendezvous, if we are open-minded enough.” --Jim Catapano |
Katonah Yoga Comes Down To The City
Katonah Yoga, which opened upstate in 1991 now has a second studio in Chelsea. Noted teacher Nevine Michaan and her daughter, Danielle Michaan, have created a space for Yoga and Pilates in a light-filled studio painted a cool breath of blue. Their practice? “It is informed by organic pattern, with the idea of manipulating form with particular attention to function,” explains Nevine.” NM: My mother and I have always made a good team. We are both so different and I feel like that is both our biggest strength as well as obstacle. The studio is a balance between my vision and her teachings. NM: I see myself as the mind, the method and the imagination of Katonah Yoga. Danielle is the heart of it. NM: Everything we do is about people finding the techniques to participate in their own personal well being. DM: We hope to appeal to people beyond yogis. The studio reflects more of my own practice which includes yoga, pilates, strength training and boxing. NM: From the start of my own practice, I was interested in the confluence of Yoga, Confucianism and Taoist theory. My fascination with sacred geometry grew out of that confluence as well as a belief that yoga asana can be set upon a radiant mental compass in order to understand and express the form more deeply. We also do a lot of group therapeutic diagnostic sessions. NM: Yes! Abbie & I are teaching a few this month, including intermediate/ advanced inversions and restorative. |
Compiling The Playlist
It can be rough when life throws major curves your way. Most of us know that. We do our practice on the mat so that we can live more flexible lives in the real world. In a way, we are all carving out our own playlists from what we’re offered. But it’s not always easy to flow from one song to the next, or even the next verse. But Mel Russo, yoga teacher and studio owner of Yoga High, with Liz Walker, has taken some of the rockiest tunes out there and turned them into wonderful melodies. She explains how she does it to Carly Sachs. |
A Real Test
Almost anyone can find their aum in the quiet that comes at the end of practice. But what about when a baby is making its way out of the birth canal? |
Influenced By A Deep Practice
Where do yoga and art connect in 2011 – the year of OWS, the recession and the ongoing melting of the icecaps? Kimberly Reinhardt, who has been doing art and yoga most of her life, has been thinking about those questions lately. “I make paintings about my experience. For a while when I worked in offices, I would paint about the underside of it to process my negative feelings. For the last couple of years, I have been thinking about how you continue to practice when things feel like they are disintegrating around you.” --Cynthia Kling |
They Bring A New Energy
Several days after the now notorious 1am raid to rid Zuccotti Park of tents, tables and home-made generators, I visited it to participate in a class hosted by a movement called Occupy Yoga. After that experience Hari Simran made an event on Facebook and texted friends to meet them for class by the Tree of Life that Tuesday at 7. Twenty friends showed up and another seventy-five from the crowd joined in with that class. He found people were open to the meditation experience and the collective unity that is apparent in Kundalini Yoga. It was then Hari Simran found out the profound effects that Kundalini Yoga had had on the protesters. “One of our regulars was arrested and taken to jail the night of the raid. He was on the bus with a guy whose zip ties were tight and cutting off his circulation so he started to chant long Sat Nams for the guy sitting next to him. Later the guy said the whole time he was chanting he couldn’t feel the pain. |
Finding Inner Stillness Behind Bars
When we entered the linoleum-tiled, fluorescent-lit chapel of H-Unit, the medium-security area of California’s San Quentin State Prison, the yoga class was already in progress. James Fox, who has been teaching yoga there for the past 10 years - and is coming to New York next week to train teachers to start a program - introduced photographer Robert Sturman and me to the group. As my eyes scanned the room, every man nodded respectfully. Fox continued the class, sometimes cautioning his students not to take note of the visitors or any loud noises, and to go inside themselves. --Anneke Lucas |
Gets A Long-Awaited Debut At The Shala
Almost a dozen years into the 21st century, hearing about an important new archaeological discovery is a rare thing. But a few Chinese monks prove that we are still in for some surprises. On Saturday, December 3, their discovery of a long-forgotten practice will be unveiled for the very first time to modern-day women at The Shala Yoga House in Union Square. --By Jessica Mahler |
Finding A Spot In A Thin Obsessed Society
Let’s face it… yoga can be intimidating. Which style to try? What on earth to wear? For any newbie, the few moments before class can be awkward. One enters into a studio full of organized mats with slim spandex-clad yogis a top them meditating, practicing pre-class inversions, or chatting away. Where to set up in this semi-social environment? Now, imagine walking into this scene, new to yoga, as someone well-over 200 or 300 pounds… |
Talking About The Heart And Bones Of The Practice
Leslie Kaminoff is a devotee of the breath and its dance with human physical form. A cofounder of The Breathing Project, Kaminoff has been teaching for several decades, guiding students to a sublime understanding of the human body’s complexities and the role of anatomy and breath in asana. His book Yoga Anatomy, originally published in 2007 and cowritten with Amy Matthews, has become a revered bible for yoga students, teachers, and teacher training programs. Kaminoff and Matthews revised and updated the book for a second edition, which has just debuted. Leslie Kaminoff: I feel overwhelmed whenever I pick up an anatomy book—and I teach the stuff. I can definitely relate to the feeling of being overwhelmed by the details, which is why in the first chapters of the book, I try to set the context of what we’re doing. We’re interested in the spine, we’re interested in the breath. In the new edition of the book, Amy [Matthews] has a lot to say about bones and muscles in terms of how we analyze the asanas. You need a lens through which you can view a subject like anatomy so you don’t get overwhelmed. * |
Blissful Bedrooms
Many NYC yogis find ways to give back to the community, but Martha Gold-Dvoryadkin has gone above and beyond. She and her team of energetic volunteers reach out to severely disabled kids’ with conditions like spinal bifida and cerebral palsy and makes their bedrooms over into happy dream rooms with themes ranging from Fairy Princess and Hello Kitty to the New York Yankees. This karma yoga all happens through her not-for-profit Blissful Bedrooms & Yoga Wonderland. Margie Suvalle sat down with the Kripalu-trained yogi to learn more about her generous work. It was inspired by one of my former physical therapy students, Tamisha. She is profoundly disabled and can only move her head. Despite all of her physical limitations, she is witty, present and has a wonderful sense of humor. My husband, Alex and I talked about what we could do to bring Tamisha some happiness and we came up with the idea of transforming her bedroom. We spent weeks painting her room, hanging butterflies and applying rainbows. When the room was complete, we carried Tamisha into the room and she let out the loudest “WOW!” you ever heard. When we left that evening we felt an unbelievable feeling of fulfillment and we wanted to feel it again and again. We talked about the experience and decided that helping children with disabilities was not only great for them, but for other people, who are in search of a meaning and purpose and want to make a tangible difference in the community. We quickly gathered a bunch of volunteers and started on our next project. We consider Blissful Bedrooms to be a Karma Yoga project and a natural extension of Yoga Wonderland. Next month, we will be embarking on our 12th Blissful Bedroom makeover. --Margie Suvalle **********
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Find Your Ommmm In The City
New York City, with its teeming masses, cacacophony of sights, sounds and smells, can make you feel a little crazy. It is an overabundance of stimuli. It also is a great opportunity to practice not feeling crazy. When that stranger's shoulder rubs you on the subway, how do you react? When the street cleaner, garbage truck and wailing ambulance all converge on the street you're walking down with your tantrum-throwing child in tow, where does your mind go? By ruminations do you mean the constant “storytelling” that we do in our minds? --Gina de la Chesnaye ******** To learn more about Dr. Kaplan's site, click here. |
A Family Operation On Bleecker
The West Village recently welcomed a friendly new studio, Sacred Sounds Yoga, to Bleecker Street near Washington Square Park. Embracing a variety of traditions, this studio will offer everything from sweaty Vinyasa and Unnata (Aerial Yoga) to Yoga for Cancer Patients and Survivors. |
Aligning Lower And Higher Dimensions
I’ve always been fascinated by mudras, those potent hand gestures that can help us balance our energy centers because they bridge the gap between the material existence and higher dimensions of energy and divinity. |
From Child Star To Yoga Star
The McArdle Family Christmas Show, Atlantic City: Mike McArdle belts out “I Have a Little Dreidel” aside his sister Andrea, the original Annie on Broadway as an entourage of Christian dancers jiggle and mime the words behind them. --Katie Clancy |
And Creating A New Home For Yogis
Let’s face it: Every once in a while, New Yorkers need a break from the hustle and bustle. So when our favorite yoga teachers lead retreats, we dutifully follow, traveling hours to mountain locales, warm Caribbean islands, or even India. But getting there can be stressful and can end up setting you back almost as much as the cost of the retreat. |
Aude Cardona Sings Her Yoga
Iyengar teacher Aude Cardona has a unique mission: to help singers gain greater mastery of their instrument through yoga. Not only is Aude an accomplished Mezzo-Soprano in the opera world, specializing in Baroque, she’s featured on Jay-Z and Kanye West’s new hip-hop album, "Watch the Throne." YogaCity NYC’s Sophie Herbert sat down with Aude to learn more about how she got started and her practical techniques to help us all become better singers!
SH: What's your musical background? AC: I started playing violin age 4 ½ and continued until I was 17. At age 5, I started playing with youth orchestras. I always sang and kindly people said I had a pretty voice; but it wasn’t until I connected deeply listening to Maria Callas and Monsterrat Caballe that I knew I had to be a part of it.
SH: When did you start yoga? Did it automatically compliment your singing? AC:I started practicing with an Iyengar teacher in Rishikesh during the summer of 2001. Right away, I knew it was what I'd been looking for. The precision and subtlety of the Iyengar directions brought me into my body with more intelligence, and I was suddenly able to fully translate the mind-body-emotion connection singing teachers had been wanting from me.
Singing can be taught in a very esoteric way, with a lot of abstract imagery. Today, these metaphors, such as singing from the third eye - a tiny place in the brain as small as the hole of a needle, make total sense to me, but at the time I needed more palpable directions to work with. Iyengar provided just that.
Yoga is entirely about cultivating presence by accepting and working with the current foundation. Singing strongly parallels this. In fact, in all subjects progress can really only be made when we work from our current state physically, mentally and emotionally. In that regard, singing and yoga are holistic arts.
SH: Specifically how you were able to fully translate the yoga to your singing? AC: Before yoga, I experienced a great deal of tension in my throat and could never figure out how to let go. As I began practicing, my bodily awareness transformed and this habit, bit by bit, was relieved.
First, I noticed that all yoga poses emphasize a stable base, which centered me in the pelvic region. Overtime, with this new awareness, I started to distribute my energy in the right places. It was an organic transition and I was soon able to place my energy in my pelvic diaphragm instead of my throat, which alleviated the tension right away.
Another indispensible quality of Iyengar Yoga is the focus on opposition. For example, as one presses the foot down and lifts up the muscles of your thighs one finds stability. Singing also mandates the understanding of opposite actions. For example, many singing teachers will say that as you reach your high note, think down, which means stay anchored in your legs and pelvic diaphragm as your soft palate lifts way up in order to have the air rise freely into your resonators, or the "mask". Yoga has helped my body and mind better grasp and internalize this concept.
Learning pranayama has been a salvation. By deepening my inhalations and focusing on my nose and sinus area, I’ve finally been able to sense where the overtones are produced. It’s a very high, subtle point high in the front sinuses and the top of the skull. Pranayama has also taught me how to fill up the lungs 360 degrees, extend the length of exhalations, and take soft deep inhalations, with all informs singing.
Lastly, but most important, with practice, asanas and pranayama become meditation in action. In meditation, we bring awareness to the emotional body and become more conscious of how it translates physically. Singing, like yoga, has the body as its vehicle. This vehicle holds our mind, emotions, intelligence, memory... Each cell sings with the musical intention, with the yogic intention.
SH: What do you teach yogis about the voice in your workshops? AC: Posture and breath go hand in hand, they are the 2 wings of the singing bird. There are anchor points the mind should never leave physically or emotionally. There are also areas in which we need to learn how to let go. These, too, go together. As Lavoisier, French physicist said, "nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed". So if one is tense in the throat, I’ll help them learn to displace that energy and put it in their legs, pelvic region, or their music for example.
As Pavarotti said, it's all about concentration, or what’s called dharana in Sanskrit. As mentioned in the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, mastering the limb of dharana naturally leads to the ability to meditate... How beautiful to translate this in our music making!
I like to play and have students discover for themselves. For example, what happens if you exhale during a movement you would naturally inhale in? How does that change inform and affect you? The center of gravity is crucial with breathing; what happens to it when we invert? What happens to our mind when the center of gravity is changed? How does that inform us on an emotional level? These answers can provide a new, invaluable set of tools for singers.
In my last workshop, we did 1½ hours of pranayama. I instructed the first 4 phases of ujjayi breathing to help students connect with their head voice. Rather than having them generate the ocean-like sound from the throat, however, I have them originate the sounds from the sinuses. This encourages the throat, tongue, and even the eyes to relax. The breath is the foundation for all sound. One singer I respect greatly, Montserrat Caballe, was forbidden by her voice teacher to sing for one year. Instead, she had to focus on the flow of her air, which ultimately transformed her as a singer.
We followed the ujjayi with bhramari pranayama, or bee hum breath. My biggest emphasis is for students to find an anchored sound that’s also highly placed. Ideally, in singing, all the overtones are generated above the third eye, and humming can really cultivate this awareness.
Next, we did 1½ hours of postures that support the voice by bringing awareness to the pelvic muscles, diaphragm, and the psoas’s connection with the diaphragm. I have students makes sounds, primarily humming, in these various postures to explore how sound changes in relation to movement and gravity. A major focus of mine is to help them get out of their throat in all of these poses. We’ll do restorative inverted postures, like supported vaparita dandasana (which really forces the sound out of the throat!), and more advanced poses like sirsana, or headstand. Sirsana really encourages resonance in the sinuses.
AC: Be present, be in what is, be well. Sing with your heart!
--Sophie Herbert, an alignment focused yoga teacher (and perpetual student, is an ambassador for Yoga Gives Back, and a regular blogger for Whole Living Magazine.
Aude is hosting a workshop for singers at Sangha Yoga Shala in Williamsburg on the 4th of Decemer. She also teaches Iyengar Yoga I at Sangha Yoga Shala, Shambhala Yoga and Dance Center in Prospect Heights, Yogasana , the YMCA in Park Slope, and Eastern Athletic in Tribeca and Brooklyn.
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The Mystery Of Coming Into Balance
A few years ago I was diagnosed with Systematic Lupus, an autoimmune disease. My main symptoms of fatigue and low-grade fevers subsided somewhat with medication but other symptoms continued to arise. I was on a slow decline. At that time, I met Eric Pettigrew, who runs Temple Yoga and is a trained homeopath from the School of Homeopathy as well as a licensed massage therapist. I worked with Eric, who prescribed Murex Purpurea, a remedy made from a purple sea mollusk and my health improved. The benefits weren’t remarkable in themselves, but together added up to making quite a difference in my overall health. When I checked in with Eric after nine or ten months I realized that I was no longer experiencing heart palpitations, anxiety dreams, frequent sinus infections, or the palpable fear of losing people close to me. Since then, I’ve become increasingly interested in knowing more about how homeopathy works, especially since it still seems somewhat mysterious, so I sat down with Eric to get some answers. A few basics:
Eric Pettigrew: Homeopathy is good for everybody (healthy or unhealthy), it stimulates the vital force (human energy, qi, prana, chi etc…) and this creates balance or homeostasis. Because nobody is perfectly in balance, homeopathy helps to bring a person closer to a state of balance, or good health and therefore they are stronger and less susceptible to illness.
EP: Yes indeed; “cured” meaning free of symptoms and the susceptibility for those to come back or develop further. But we have to keep in mind here that a “cure” is often part of a process that involves time, keen observation and patience, which are all pretty rare these days. Most people want a quick fix and to be back to functioning mode right away. They usually find relief in the more conventional medicine approach (drugs and surgery). I think it’s wonderful in times of life-threatening situations to have access to a drug or surgery, and I agree with taking pain-killers when you can no longer sleep because of pain. You need to sleep, heal and recover. And while this might make you more able to function, you are not necessarily “cured.” You are still miss-aligned or disharmonized. The core or the source of your dis-ease has not been addressed. You will sooner or later experience a relapse and possibly in a more serious way. In NY it’s hard to give yourself the permission to recover or to convalesce after a trauma, illness or surgery. But if we don’t, we are not allowing our qi to replenish itself and do what it needs to do to keep us well. I worked in Africa treating AIDS patients with homeopathy and saw a good integration of both medicines (allopathic and homeopathy). It is a beautiful example of how homeopathy can help to relieve symptoms: the patients were on ARV treatment (anti-retro viral drugs) that kept them more or less alive for a time but they were still suffering from all kinds of symptoms from the virus and from the drugs such as nausea, insomnia, neuropathy (numbness of extremity), skin irritation, and also symptoms from the common cold. They became stronger as a result of the homeopathy and their remaining symptoms were helped tremendously. MW: How many clients come to you from yoga? EP: About half learn about what I do after taking a yoga class with me. But others just hear about me from word of mouth. They often come with acute problems: tension, pain in muscle or joint, injuries to the body, bruise, sprain, muscle ache, pull, or “yoga butt syndrome” (a pull, where the hamstring attaches to the sits bone). In these cases both massage and homeopathy will help. It’s easy to keep reinjuring yourself, and because it doesn’t go away, you need to address the root of the imbalance. Sometimes the treatment addresses an aspect of your imbalance that you weren’t even aware of. I have a client who had chronic asthma and had been on heavy medication and was also tired and depressed. He was able to cut back on 80% of his medication after treatment and was feeling better after several follow ups; and then he reported also feeling more freedom in the shoulder. It wasn’t part of why he came to me, but he improved in movement, so his yoga poses are now easier and his asthma is much improved.
EP: “Homeo” means “same.” We are trying to match the pace and state of the disease and symptoms. Usually acute illnesses (fast and intense in pace and symptoms) take less time such as injuries (sprain, bruise, tearing of a ligament, skin irritations, etc.). The symptoms come as fast and strong as they go, it’s really amazing to watch. The cure is fast and permanent because with any acute disease, you either get worse quickly or recover quickly. Chronic illnesses take time to develop and are characterized by periods of quietness and flare-ups. Therefore in chronic cases homeopathic treatments usually reflect the same, long treatments with different variants (ups and downs) until the person is cured. We see this with lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, tendonitis (inflammation), asthma and also cancer. MW: How do you choose a remedy? EP: Each homeopathic remedy relieves the symptoms for many different illnesses so it is important to look at all the aspects of a person’s life, and not just their physical ailment, to decide the best remedy. If someone comes to me with an acute injury like a bruise or cut, arnica is the first remedy I will choose because arnica is known for increasing the blood flow to an area for healing. Once that problem has been addressed I might assign another remedy for other ailments that might still persist. Each remedy addresses many different kinds of ailments, and each ailment can be treated by many different kinds of remedies. For example, phosphorus is a common treatment for problems with the respiratory system, but I might chose a different remedy for a client with asthma for example, if during the intake I learn that he/she is also depressed and is having a hard time at work. And a remedy isn’t always the same for people with similar illnesses. People have different temperaments, different body types, different weights, and different attitudes. All these factor in at the time of the intake to help me determine the best remedy for the client. MW: How is the intake different from a psychotherapy session? EP: The intake process itself is part of the remedy in that it stimulates the recovery process. I am not doing psychotherapy with you. My intention is to understand your own experience, your vibration, your vital force, your tone and determine the appropriate remedy. Both can be long term, however, homeopathy includes the physiological.
EP: There are two things: the intake, and the energetic effect of the remedy on the vital force, both of which will influence the person’s perceptions of things and events. I often see a client in follow up sessions telling me that they are aware of what they told me previously but that now they are completely in a different place with a different point of view, and with different ways to look at their situation. They are no longer stuck because they have been stimulated (by talk and/or remedy) to move in a new direction.
EP: Yes! I had chronic bronchitis since childhood and was always sick with a cold that would lodge in my chest. After being treated with homeopathy my health and life quality improved tremendously. Even people around me started to notice changes soon into the homeopathic process. I call it “process” because it’s like a journey that you embark on, a journey into your own self. Energetically I am in a better place, and it shows in my body, my face, my attitude and also with this bronchitis that I don’t get anymore.
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360Fit Adds Yoga
Tucked away in a commercial office building on 43rd Street is 360Fit, a boutique fitness studio for everyone. Owner Shanna Farrar, a former soccer player and a personal trainer with The Sports Club LA and Nike, opened 360Fit with the idea that fitness is for everyone. Shanna has been offering bootcamp, boxing and core cardio group classes in Central Park since 2008. She opened 360Fit in its current location near Grand Central in January 2010 and has recently partnered with Connie Viglietti to add yoga classes as the newest option on their schedule.
Yoga classes are on Mondays and Wednesdays at 12pm and 6pm. Shanna and Connie hope to add weekend classes shortly. All classes are an hour and benefit from Connie's combined experience as a Vinyasa trained teacher through Sonic Yoga and also her close study in Hatha yoga, mantra and chanting with Will Dupree and his wife.
All classes, bootcamp and yoga, are limited to 10 participants per class so there is lots of personal attention (which means yummy yoga adjustments!), plenty of space to breathe and with Shanna and Connie's warm and inviting personalities, you'll soon forget about any newbie jitters.
Single classes are $25 while 10-class packages drop the rate to $22.50 per class and 20 class packages bring it down to $20 per class. Class packages can be used for any class. If you choose to take two classes in a single day (bootcamp at 6pm and yoga at 7pm, anyone?) your second class is only $15. New clients always get their first class for $10 and they are currently offering $35 off your first 10-class pack. --Allison Richard |
Six Experts on their Favorite Topic
Quick Question: Where is your calcaneus?* Anatomy is a complicated subject. Many yoga teachers and students are intrigued by the names of the bones yet studying it in detail gets passed over in most yoga classes – if it is discussed at all. YogaCity NYC’s Margie Suvalle sat down with six experts to find out how they learned more about their muscles and joints, why it is necessary, and where to learn more about anatomy. |
LIght and Sun in Clinton Hill
Dou Yoga recently opened at 214 Greene Avenue, a lively corner in Clinton Hill. The studio is located in a brownstone, upstairs from a neighborhood market. The owners, Hamid Elsevar and Yuuki Hirano painted the walls, sanded and finished the floors and picked out plants to make the former, high-ceilinged rooms welcoming to all. There is a small reception area in the back and huge windows in the front. Students get to practice in the sun all winter long. Becca Broughton and Robyn Polo. The schedule is diverse and includes several styles of yoga such as ISHTA, Kripalu and yoga in the tradition of Krishnamacharya. |
Gaga Goes Patanjali
It’s hard to believe that Marisa Sako loves beef and doing hard-core cardio to Lady Gaga. Young and already allied with her favorite teachers—Alison West, Schuyler Grant, Alex Auder, and Nikki Vilella—she’s got the experience to back up her bang. According to Grant (who started Kula), “she’s a smart, creative teacher with an underlying sense of humor.” More important, Marisa is a good student of yoga who never stops her own personal inquiry—and has the teaching diplomas to prove it.” Her most recent accreditations -- Grant’s advanced course and West’s 500 TT.
I sat down with Marisa after one of her evening flow classes to get to know this well-respected yet unconventional teacher.
Katie Clancy (KC): You are teaching at some of the hippest yoga kulas in town. When did you begin your yogic journey?
Marisa Sako(MS): I took a class from Anusara bigwig Amy Ippoliti at Crunch in 1996. She wasn’t famous then; I’m not sure if Anusara even existed. But she certainly had that spark. After returning from living in Italy for 3 years, yoga was my savior to the point where I fantasized about sleeping in the studios. Then I realized that if I taught, I could come close.
KC: That was right when you moved to NY, right?
MC: Yes; my first apartment was in the East Village. The drag queens who had lived there before us had painted a mural in the bathroom of sea creatures wearing wigs and lipstick. Cleaning one day, I found what might have been a crack vile inside our gas range.
KC: Wow, you’ve come quite a ways. Now you live in Park Slope with a built-in rope wall. Other than your recent certifications, where did you train?
MC: My very first 200-hr course was at Laughing Lotus in 2006. I’ve also studied with Susan Hefner who is a brilliant neuromuscular therapist who has worked with Irene Dowd.
KC: So you get certified, and boom! Instant gigs?
MC: No, when I did my first training, I remember thinking that it was going to be hard to get work (and I imagine it’s a lot harder these days—I feel like we’re reaching a saturation point.) It’s hard to get going in the beginning; my first gig was teaching The Queens of Pain—the best roller derby team ever! I’d ask at the beginning if anyone had injuries and every hand would go up. A few years ago, I was teaching 21 classes a week. I recently gave myself a day off, Saturday, for the first time. Wacky schedules, lots of commuting—you really have to love it to live it.
KC: You still make time to take class?
MS: Yes, I love being told what to do in class. It frees me up to get into the breath so much more. When I teach, I really love to get people into that meditative groove so that they don’t hold onto what just happened and can’t see what’s coming next.
KC: Is there a particular pose you are working on right now?
MS: It’s more about how I’m working. I’m practicing pushing up to handstand versus jumping. It’s so hard!
KC: Indeed. Any poses you believe you will never, ever accomplish?
MS: [Pauses] I can’t see myself ever doing a hands-free lotus while inverting. I can’t just bend my legs into position; origami maneuvering is necessary for these legs.
KC: Speaking of hard postures, I noticed a grimace when you told me you were from New Jersey.
MS: [laughs] Yah, ever since I was five, I just knew it wasn’t my style. I grew up in Bergen County, which is so close to NYC, but yet, immersed in its own surreal universe.
KC: What would it take you to go back and teach there?
MS: The complete obliteration of New York City.
KC: Well, then you could invite the Desperate Housewives to your classes. And play Britney Spears’s “Till the World Ends”.
MS: Yes, I secretly love that song. The 27-year-old Marisa would probably punch the 34-year-old Marisa in the face if she knew I listened to that song.
KC: I see a budding career for you in Jersey. Seriously though, what is your ultimate yoga fantasy?
MS: Paid health benefits and vacation time. Ha! No, I would really like to lead retreats from December through March in exotic, warm climates. These winters really keep me dreaming.
You can find Marisa at Kula Yoga, Alison West’s new Yoga Union, and Bend & Bloom. Visit www.yogawithmarisa.com for schedule and details. |
What, Why, How
According to medical studies, most people are only using 20-40% of their lung capacity and about 90% have restricted breathing patterns. Yet, for thousands of years, the yogis knew that breath was the way to flow with our nervous system and there was a direct relationship between the physiological, the psychological and energetic. Breath is the soul of yoga practice and yet it is often overlooked in classes. Yogacity NYC’s Carly Sachs sat down with some of New York's most experienced teachers to find out more about this critically important practice. (Their bios can be found at the end of the story.) Julie Wilcox, Co-founder of ISHTA Yoga: Breath is Prana, our life force, which travels through our energetic channels (nadis) and activates every cell of our being. Pranayama is how we can manipulate our breath to influence its movement through our systems. J. Brown, founder of Abhyasa Yoga Center: The act of existing. Elizabeth Rossa, founder of Shriyoga: The breath is the process of inspiration and expiration which guides our attention to move towards life. Breathing balances both the pranic and apanic energies which dynamically uplift and ground the body-mind. Leslie Kaminoff, founder of The Breathing Project: The simplest and most useful definition is a mechanical one. We have two cavities in the body, the thoracic and the abdominal. Breathing really is nothing more or less than the shape change of those cavities. That definition also includes the spine and spinal movements. What in your life has shifted through your pranayama practice? Or what are you more aware of because of the breath? JW: Everything. I am always tapped into my state of being from the knowledge of how my breath is moving. I catch myself for instance, at times of upset, anxiety or stress when I am not breathing at all! Then, I know to engage a technique that pertains to the cause of that breath state and I can dissolve it, thereby changing the way I feel or in other words, my mood. Because pranayama purifies the mind, it brings me clarity about who I am and how I feel at any given moment in time. JB: Experiencing and gaining facility with my own breath has translated into a greater sense of poise in my thoughts and behaviors. Also, the engagement of my breath is a way of actively participating in the fact of my life. In so doing, I am aware of life in a broader sense and feel my place in the universe is inherent. JW: It is not really possible to compare the two. They are each very unique practices that move energy in different ways with different results. Though pranayama can be much more powerful at moving energy and affecting the nervous system than asana, I believe that both are equally effective at enhancing mind, body, and spirit on all levels: physical, energetic, emotional, and psychological.
If you could offer one pranayam practice for city dwellers, which would you pick and why? JW: Most New Yorkers are type A personalities and build up and carry a lot of stress. I would recommend Chandra Bedhana (Chandra is moon and Bedhana means passing through) because it is one of the most mellowing techniques.
**** J. Brown is a yoga teacher, writer and founder of Abhyasa Yoga Center in Brooklyn, NY. His writing has been featured in Yoga Therapy in Practice, Yoga Therapy Today and the International Journal of Yoga Therapy. Visit his website at yogijbrown.com |
Sanctuary Pilates Goes Yogic
Sanctuary Pilates and Wellness, a boutique studio on the Upper East Side, expanded last week and now offers group classes in yoga for adults and kids as well as mat Pilates and the Alexander Technique – great cross-training for subtle movement! |
Gongs
The gong is used as a relaxation tool in Kundalini classes. It brings the mind to that “Shunya” zero point which is a sense of clarity, neutrality and relaxation. Last New Year’s Eve for example, a gong master came from Massachusetts to play ten gongs at Hari Kaur’s New Year’s Eve yoga celebration and afterwards I was so spaced out I wished Hari Kaur a Happy Birthday instead of a Happy New Year. Gong Yoga by Mehtab Benton, gives excellent tips on playing techniques and the care of a gong. |
Social Change, Ecology, And Good Business
German businessman and yogi Peter Oppermann is committed to creating a model for socially and ecologically responsible business based on the idea of second chances for people and materials alike. His new organization, Karma Builders, will employ ex-offenders in green jobs and provide them with yoga and mindfulness training at a facility in the South Bronx. Oppermann, 46, spoke with YogaCity NYC's Sara Neufeld: SN: Tell me what the organization does. PO: The mission of Karma Builders is to train and employ formerly incarcerated people…. The Osborne Association has a very successful program called the Green Career Center where they screen and train people coming out of prison in a six-week program… to help them find jobs in the green industry in New York City. From this audience, we will take about 20 participants to join our six-month program, where they will get trained in woodworking and be employed at the same time and make a decent living. There will be assembly and low-skilled work they can do immediately, hard skills training and soft skills training. Hard skills is the shop work, the actual woodworking. The soft skills are mindfulness training based on work by Jon Kabat-Zinn, yoga, meditation and movement, a powerful complement for people to become more aware of their actions and make healthier choices in life. The clients of Karma Builders are themselves local sustainable companies that need assembly services or other services that can be delivered by our participants. (The first client is Oppermann’s business, Shoji Living, which makes Japanese sliding doors from sustainably sourced wood.) We are going to seek out more clients that share our vision…. The more clients we have, the more participants we can employ to offer a second chance. SN: Explain the societal issues you are working to address. PO: Karma Builders’ mission is to break the vicious cycle of incarceration, unemployment and recidivism. People with a criminal record have a very hard time, especially in these economic times, to find a job… whether for lack of work skills or prejudice. Chances are high that they will fall back into their bad habits and then back into prison. Two-thirds of incarcerated people (being released) will land back in prison in a three-year period. About 90 percent of parole violators are unemployed at the time of violation in the state of New York. It is very costly, obviously, on a personal scale but also from a taxpayer perspective. It costs about $60,000 to keep an adult in prison per year. Our mission is one step at a time, one person at a time, to offer some best practices to help individuals who are ready to come back into society and also inspire other business leaders to adopt our philosophy of giving second chances. SN: How does your business model work? PO: We charge our clients a certain hourly rate, and we pay our participants a lower rate … generating the income to run the program. We are projecting wages of $13.50 hourly and charging our clients $20 per hour (per worker). It’s a 35- to 40-hour work week consisting of work stills training, mindfulness training and shop work. Participants are paid through the whole time, including the training time. The program is only successful if people get a living wage from day one. SN: How many people are running the organization? PO: Currently it’s myself and one assistant (plus three interns and volunteers). Soon we’ll be hiring a contractor to renovate the space. SN: Tell me about your background, what inspired you to start this. PO: I’m in woodworking myself. I’m originally an engineer from Berlin, but I always loved woodworking. I started Shoji Living in East Berlin and was doing a lot of mindfulness meditation myself. I studied with Jack Kornfield and became a yoga teacher at Kripalu. It was very rewarding to build furniture in a mindful way…. I always had the dream to incorporate unemployed young adults or some population that would benefit from this simple, beautiful activity of working with wood. You see a product growing in front of you, and it teaches you patience, perseverance, attention. It’s very grounding to see something physically built that has one’s own thumbprint. I expanded my company to the U.S. in 2006, and then right when the recession hit and Lehman Brothers fell, that was a real wake-up call for me to see that currently the way our economy is run is not sustainable. It’s based on greed and living beyond our means and polluting the planet, alienating human beings from their essence. My vision was to think of an economy that is actually sustainable, that only uses as much energy as is being regenerated, that only uses materials that can be re-grown, where the economy becomes a force to clean up the planet. That same principle also applies on a human level where people (who have been) alienated … would actually feel empowered and can contribute to further self development and ultimately awakening, if you want to go that far. The same idea of repurposing things we consider waste includes a population that’s very much on the dark side of our society. (The goal is) to consciously bring them in, to give people a second chance, address their talents and let them become a part of creating something beautiful.
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Expanding Asana By Expanding the Language
Explaining asana isn’t always easy. Much of yoga is so subtle to our Western sensibility that teachers often get their instructions across through metaphor. This figurative language, inherently creative, can allow for greater understanding, pattern-changes, and deepening of svadhyaya. --Sara Nolan. Read Sara's blog:www.twentyfourhouryoga.wordpress.com |
Bija Yoga Is Both Convenient And Cozy
A New Studio Blooms In Union Square.
This was the dream of Veronica Perretti, a teacher and devoted student of the practice for almost a decade who decided to take the leap and plant the seed on 17th street, literally. Bija means the "seed" of awareness or potential; and the studio is built on a foundation of community, consciousness and the connection we all have to each other.
Nestled between Union Square West and 5th Avenue, the location is convenient and cozy. The warm purple walls of the studio's interior invoke an earthy and inspired space to learn and grow. Emerging from the lineage of Krishnamacharya (and his masterful students BKS Iyengar, Sri K Pattabhi Jois and TKV Deskichar), the instructors focus on alignment while allowing for freedom to flourish in Vinyasa flow.
Veronica believes strongly that a yoga studio should not only be a place for students to grow, but to also create an atmosphere where our teachers can grow their practice and evolve their teaching, so stay tuned for developing continuing ed classes.
Following the Puja celebration led by Manorama, who will also be leading the Satsang program and philosophy studies, Bija Yoga is now open and operating with a full schedule.
Single drop-in class is $20, new student deal $30 (1 week unlimited yoga).
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Sunday Night - Have Fun It's A Good Cause
Join Melissa McKay from Kusala Yoga and Susan Sarandon (yes, that Susan Sarandon) this Sunday from 7-10, for an evening of music to benefit Burma and Burmese refugees at Spin, an upscale ping-pong club. |
Three Ancient Pilllars For Growing Up Today
On Sunday, October 16th Sharon Salzberg, one of America’s leading spiritual teachers and Susan Kaiser Greenland, author of The Mindful Child, who had brought mindfulness to children in their homes and schools as well as rough inner city neighborhoods, will team up for “Developing Mindfulness with Children – A Workshop for Adults” at the NY Insight Meditation Society. They turned out to be great kids, interesting kids and doing well in some areas of school because they learned to be able to manage differences from a very young age. Gina de la Chesnaye: Which also speaks of the basic Buddhist tenet that we do not need to be the same and yet we are no different from one another. ********** Don't Miss This Great Workshop on October 16th, from 10am-5pm, at the Insight Meditation Society |
A Gem Grows In Greenpoint
Hosh Yoga is a hidden gem on the corner of Nassau Avenue and Guernsey Street in Greenpoint. The name means welcome in Azerbaijani, the language of co-founder Hamid Elsevar and it is perfect for this donation-based studio where everyone is welcome. |