Laura Erdman-Luntz, MA, E-RYT(500) | Yoga | Yoga Teacher Training | Minnesota | Costa Rica | Life Coaching

An Underappreciated Yoga Pose: Sphinx

This pose is fabulous!  Be sure to include it in your yoga practice.

 

Deepening Your Pose: Supta Padangusthasana (Reclining Big Toe Pose)

Here is a video I did for my sister blog, Musasana.  On Musasana, I study and blog about one pose every month. 

Journal Writing - Tracking Your Yoga Practice

I am a firm believer in keeping a journal especially when it comes to your yoga practice.  I actually have three, one for my asana, one for pranayama/meditation, and one for my dreams and everyday notes.  It is just easier for me to keep them separate from each other the way I refer the them.

WHAT:  I enjoy writing insights I glean, new things I feel, challenges I encounter, questions I have, almost anything that comes up in my head during my practice ends up in my journal (or on my blog!)

WHY:  I love to spend time reviewing the thoughts I have had over the years, the insights, lessons learned, etc.  In yoga I find my evolution, while monumental and huge in the beginning, slows as I go more deeply into my practice.  I enjoy reading where I used to be to remember why I do what I do.  Also, my journals help me guide my practice.  As I write what I felt, the insights I gleaned, I am better able to guide my practice to what I need.

TO DO:

• Decide why you want to keep a journal.  The more inspired you get around it, the more dedicated you will be to it.
• Decide how many journals you want.  Does one feel simpler?  Maybe one with several sections?  Or a different one for different purposes.
  
• Get the fabulous journal(s) and pen that represent all the good feelings your yoga practice creates for you.  If you enjoy seeing it and feeling it, you will be more inclined to use it.
• Get writing!

Related Posts:

• Practice Journal
• Finding Time for My Practice
  
• Burnout

JOURNAL WRITING
Originally uploaded by gregoryhogan

 

Using Yoga to Create Balance in our Lives

Life is alot like waves on a beach, we surge into action then recede back, cycling between action and rest and restoring.  At least that is the balanced way.  What does your life look like?  Are you taking too much action?  Surging and surging again or have you been receding for some time now, sitting back and letting life happen to you?  Use your yoga practice to create more balance, more moderation.  Here are some ideas to get you started:

• If you have been surging for some time, it is time to rest.  Let your practice be more restorative, doing daily Savasana and forward fold as well as supported, relaxing posture.
• If you have been sitting back and resting, you need the energy to surge.  Let your practice be more power poses such as Tadasana and back bends.  The Warrior poses will also give you the energy to move out of your comfort zone and do something new!

The Point of Our Yoga Practice

"And this is the point of spiritual practice:

To make us teachable,
to open our hearts
and focus our awareness so that we can 
know what we already know,
and be who we already are."


~Rolf Gates

A Thought: An Ever-Changing Yoga Personal Pratice

Poses differ daily. 
Sometimes you know why, sometimes you don't. 
Our task is to listen and honor where we are right now,
not where it was yesterday or where we wish it to be.

Practicing ahimsa (compassion) on our yoga mats: A look at the two sides of compassion

Are you gentle and loving with yourself on your yoga mat?  Or do you find yourself critiquing your pose, feeling frustrated your hamstrings aren't open enough, or annoyed that your poses still don't look like that other student's poses, you know, the person who is always in the front of the class, even though you have been practicing longer than she has? 

These types of judgments are common and can lead us to push past our comfort zone in poses, taking our body deeper than it is truly ready to go.  But when we do so, we are violating one of yoga's most basic precepts: ahimsa or nonviolence (also translated as compassion).  We need to honor where we are in any one moment, what our bodies and minds are capable of doing. 

At the same time, there is another side of violence we can commit on the yoga mat.  You will find this way one on the other side of the spectrum, when we don't take ourselves more deeply, when we don't challenge ourselves to do what we are truly capable of doing.  I call it complacency and it shows up as simply plunking ourselves into the same pose we do day-after-day, never challenging ourselves to go deeper, to explore, to test what we are truly capable of doing. 

I had a student once say, "There is a difference between doing a pose and being in a pose."  Whether we are being "violent" and forcing the pose or complacent, we are simply doing a pose, we aren't fully being in the pose.  We need to find the line between "violence" and complacency in our practice on a daily basis.  We need to practice Satya (truthfulness) each and every time we get on the mat to see what we need to do that day.  It takes a deep sense of integrity to know (and then admit) when you are doing one or the other and to balance yourself to find the middle-ground.  Yet that is just what we need to do to enter into a state of yoga.

"If we did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves." ~Thomas Edison

Go on...I dare you!

A Thought: To Discern Without Judgment

Can you evaluate what you need to work on in a pose without judgment?  To be able to assess what we need to work on is a necessary and helpful skill when you are on a path of self-discovery.  We need to be able to figure out what to work on next to grow and evolve.  Yet that assessment can be full of judgment and criticism and when it is, we will be stuck!  Let your assessment simply be, "hmmm...isn't that interesting?"

Everyone Needs Restorative Yoga

Join me THIS Sunday (April 10) for a Restorative Yoga Class.  Class is online, LIVE and interactive so all you need to be wtih me is a computer and internet.  More info and to register.

(Reposting this in honor of my workshop!  Would love to have you!)

In our stressed-out, fast-paced, frenetic world, what we all need more of is Restorative Yoga.  What is it, you say?  My husband describes it as the "Bubble Bath" of Yoga classes and that about sums it up.  As the image the photo here conjures up, Restorative Yoga is relaxing, supportive, calming, peaceful.  Students do a series of yoga poses completely supported by blankets, bolsters, and blocks.  Eyes are covered to create an even more serene inner world.  Restorative Yoga gives us much needed time to disconnect from our busy lifestyle but it is more than a break we receive.  The real benefit of this type of yoga is the break it gives our nervous system. 

The nervous system is your operating system.  Your brain and spinal column comprise central nervous system and those two treasures take care of everything in your body.  When we are feeling stressed, hurried, overwhelmed, we are keeping the nervous system on high alert -- working over time.  Here's what is truly shocking, unless we do something on a regular basis to counter the high alert, they will continue to work overtime even when you are feeling less overwhelmed.  When you are on high alert, secondary systems in your body, such as the immune, reproductive and digestive systems take a back seat.  That is why you get sick, have a hard time getting pregnant and/or suffer from IBS, heart burn, acid reflux, ulcers, etc etc etc! 

What to Expect:  You will do about 5-8 poses, depending on how long the class is.  Each pose will be held at least 10 min and up to 20 min.  Sometimes instructors will guide you through breathing exercises or visualizations to help you relax, other times they will be silent.  I like to do a bit of both, beginning class with more guidance and ending in more silence, as students relax and unwind.

What to Bring:  Restorative yoga is a prop-heavy class.  You need at least two firm blankets and preferrably three.  You will also want a comfy blanket to cover yourself and a block and strap.  You will also want to be dressed warmly in comfie clothes.  You cool as you relax as the blood moves from the extremities to the internal organs of your body and you need to be warm to physiologically relax so be sure you dress in layers.  Your hands and feet especially need to be warm.   Some of my students even wear soft gloves or mittens to help.

Restorative Yoga helps you relax, unwind, and reset your nervous system.  You will be pampered, filled up, restored, renewed, rejuvenated.  You will sleep better than you ever have in your life...is there a better reason to practice it! :-)

Two ways to do Restorative Yoga with ME!

1. In-Person:  If you live in the Twin Cities area, study wth me in person! 
2. LIVE, online, interactive:  I am starting online, LIVE, interactive, monthly Restorative Yoga sessions beginning in April.  Join me at www.Physiic.com. 

Register for the weekly eNews, monday morning musing, to receive weekly updates on my online class schedule.

Restorative Yoga
Originally uploaded by aprilhelen

Effortless Change

“The single most important tool to being in balance is knowing

that you and you alone are responsible for the imbalance between

what you dream your life is meant to be, and the daily habits that drain life from that dream.”

~ Wayne Dyer

 

Admittedly, this quote is about manifesting, consciously creating your dream. Yet I also use this quote when I consider making changes in my habits, especially when it comes to my yoga practice. Certain habits support who you want to be, where you are going, and other habits keep you stuck in your current place. I know my yoga practice, meditating, eating well, etc. keep me feeling good and help me grow and evolve. It is much easier to remain committed when I think in those terms.

Normally when we attempt to affect change in our lives we use sheer will power, making ourselves do something, forcing really. Sometimes the new habit takes root and other times it doesn’t only to leave us feeling as if we have failed. This quote changes everything. What is your dream? How do you want to show up in the world? Do your habits support that dream or drain the life from it? I find, with my heart focused on the dream, it is much easier to make changes in my life, to do what I know supports the dream. In fact, I find the changes come about quite joyfully when I connect them to a higher dream.

Do your habits match with who you are and who you are becoming? What do you really want in your life? Begin to be selective and move yourself closer to your dream each minute of your day.