Adho Mukha Svanasana or Downward Facing Dog, aka DFD, is a pose I could never give up, at least not willingly. There are so many delicious benefits: the back enters a lovely traction, stretching out whatever has kinked up, the shoulders are invited to open and receive a stretch, the arms strengthen with every breath, the backs of the legs lengthen, the soles of the feet and the Achilles and calves stretch luxuriously, the heart center opens, balance is encouraged between the upper and the lower body, the upper spine and tops of the shoulders soften and then I breathe and practice my endurance or move into a flow with three legged dog, and pigeon OR plank pose and upward facing dog OR side arm balance (vasisthasana) OR forward fold and chair pose….Ahhhhhhh, the variations and mini-sequences keep the pose fresh and the mind attentive.

At least once per season I teach each of my groups a DOWNWARD DOG CLASS. An entire class focused on DOG. Barking optional. No one ever complains. I’m in my element and so are my students. We have the luxury to REALLY examine our strengths and weaknesses in DFD. Why not? Check out the depth of BKS Iyengar’s dog! It becomes clear how much room there is for development ~ I know there certainly is lots of ways to “grow” my dog. This year I’ve been working on endurance and strength in Dog. Try holding it for five full minutes. I’m not there yet and the question remains: Is it my mind or my body that is holding me back?

Here are some notes from my journals:

DFD: Find the central axis and can you make it longer breathe into that area that is tight

DFD: Partner practice putting thumb in acromium process as you lift and rotate arms outward—can do this sitting

To reset shoulders, do Viparita w/ big rolls under forearms and sandbags on armpits

To teach external rotation of shoulders:

#1 head on block

#2 Thumbs and fingers on wall at floor level

#3 Ace bandages wrapped on upper arms

#4 Arms on blocks (also good for wrist issue people)

#5 blocks under forearms to help lift forearms

#6 Squeeze block between legs to rotate inner thighs rotate in….resist at ankles….stretch big toe to outer heel

Dog makes a suitable basis for home practice. Listen to your body and mind as you develop a deepening awareness of this beautiful pose. The physical or mental areas where you have difficulty present possibilities for growth in the pose. You may wish to pay attention to these areas during preparatory practice for DFD. For instance, if your shoulders are tight, you probably want to embark upon a couple of shoulder openers before you attempt Dog. If your back has been bothering you, warm it up first with cat-cow and a twist or two. If your hamstrings have not been stretched for a while, supta padanghusthasana is in order.

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If you have been practicing for any amount of time, you’ve probably asked yourself, what is the goal of all this mat-work? Is it to become a bit more “bendy?”

My answer is that BENDY is an offshoot of a good practice. You should begin to see real changes in your everyday life after a couple of months of yogic practice. The people around you should begin to notice that YOU HAVE CHANGED.

I remember quite vividly, Mike saying to me that I had become a “kinder, gentler” version of myself.

HUH? answered. It took a while for me to recognize the SELF that was emerging. How beautiful and wonderful to evolve. Truly this is a gift.

The world is evolving as well, just as individuals are moving through samsara on journeys filled with peace and love. I share with you an amazing video of two rock stars in my world: an interview by Boulder’s green blogger yogi, Waylon Lewis on his elevision with eminent Buddhist scholar, Robert Thurman. They tackle the question, Does the Dalai Lama matter? and in the process discuss world peace, Tibet, Buddhism mixing it all up with some humor and light. I don’t know what Waylon did to Bob, but the usually staid teacher was in rare form, telling silly jokes that of course the Laughing Yogini LOVED.

I’d love to hear your response. Do you or others see any change in you? Do you believe the world can change? Is peace possible?

elevision – Robert Thurman: Why the Dalai Lama Matters from elevision on Vimeo.

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Happy Fourth of July to American yogins everywhere.

Beyond the flashy fireworks and barbecue festivities, this is a day to reflect upon the meaning of freedom and to celebrate the birthday of our country. Revolutionary War soldiers certainly felt as if Colonial powers were impeding their lives and their freedom. For many of us however, the celebration is checkered by a history that was often cruel and pocked by the nether aspects of  humanity.  For instance,  the culture and political community that existed on the continent was nearly obliterated.

How can we reconcile the shame with the pride?

Have you taken time today – even ten minutes – to ask WHO AM I while sitting in silence and listening to whatever burbles into consciousness? I feel truly free when connecting with my SELF, the Source of energy and life itself. Does the past impede your present life or can you free yourself to live truly open to this present moment? Have you ever felt truly free?

Some thoughts to pepper your practice:

Do you feel constricted in your life?

Can freedom be achieved in every single asana? What is the key?

Is there a place or a practice that helps you move and act beyond shame and pride? Do you even think that this is possible? How does this relate to freedom? Is freedom a worthwhile endeavor? What do you consider more important?

What are the chains keeping you from living the life that is YOURS?

Is personal or spiritual freedom possible without political freedom? What price are you willing to pay for each of these liberations?

How can a sense of lightness, humor, and joy infuse the challenge of becoming more free?

Here is a five minute sacred pause meditation from renowned teacher and author of RADICAL ACCEPTANCE, Tara Brach, that was created by OMEGA.

When I watch the fireworks tonight in Swansboro, North Carolina, I’ll think of the struggle for personal/spiritual freedom that this community is dedicated to and I’ll clap for y’all at the first appricot squiggle bursting overhead.

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Continuing the discussion on the triad of yogic practice: FLEXIBILITY, BALANCE, and STRENGTH, today’s post focuses upon BALANCE in our practice and in our lives.

Many students, particularly elders, join a yoga class because they wish to improve their BALANCE. This is not surprising because during every decade of living we lose considerable ability to BALANCE. Unbalance is due to several reasons, the most prominent being loss of muscle mass. It’s easy to see then, that building STRENGTH is a critical component of developing BALANCE.

Having said that though, there is considerable difference among students and for a variety of reasons, younger students sometimes have worse balance than elders.

Maybe we need to question the essential existence of BALANCE in the world and in our lives. What is BALANCE exactly?

Is balance an achievable state or a momentary state?

Is BALANCE a construct of the mind?

Is physical balance different from mental or spiritual balance?

Can one be achieved without the other?

Is BALANCE synonymous with enlightenment?

Is BALANCE possible without flexibility or strength?

Before we twirl ourselves into a heady, non-yogic state of mental machinations, let’s pause to remember the deeper dimensions of our yogic practice. Phillip Moffitt of the LIFE BALANCE INSTITUTE, writes in his article,”The Perfect Pose”:

In the type of meditation I teach, vipassana, the heart of the practice is being present with mindfulness and equanimity. In vipassana we use sitting on a cushion and walking meditation as our two primary forms of practice, but we also emphasize that the practice happens in each moment of your life, not just during the times of formal meditation. The same is true for hatha yoga; the time you spend on the sticky mat is your formal practice, where you learn to strengthen and stretch your body and to concentrate your mind. However, the deeper intention of yoga is to create a state of fluidity and flexibility in body and mind such that you can handle the inevitable physical and mental stresses and strains that arise in your life. If you practice with this intention, it doesn’t matter what your poses look like.

Having thus returned to our SELVES (if you’re not there yet, please breathe, rub your ears, feet, hands, feel and acknowledge the grounding points of your BODY), we recognize that BALANCE can definitely improve with daily hatha yoga practice. Nearly all of the standing poses (The warriors, triangle, standing forward bend, standing wide-angled forward bend, right angle, half-moon, the standing “revolutions”) as well as what we typically call the BALANCE poses (tree, dancer, standing big toe pose) provide development of our physical balancing skills.

Does our mental or emotional outlook affect how we “perform” the poses on any given day? There is some truth here, but how much? Yogic Lore, and my first adult teacher, repeatedly said that yes, indeed, if we are feeling agitated, our tree pose will be wobbly, we’ll sway in triangle, etc.

My experience,however has been otherwise. Sometimes it’s the pose that brings me into balance on monkey-mind days! Sometimes, placing my body in a very precarious position, pushes my mind – and heart – to settle down and focus so my body can remain upright.

I’d always felt that BALANCE was one of my weaker skills, but I’ve found that over the years, as I’ve gained flexibility, coordination, and strength, especially in the hip and thighs, that my BALANCE has shown remarkable improvement.

Concurrently, as I’ve strengthened the connection with my core, my inner being, the balance I feel in my life -off the mat – has undergone remarkable transformation. For many years, I felt as if I was not leading “my” life. Now I know, and it’s with a deep, often unconscious, knowing that I am the compassionate creator of my own life.

Balance resides in the being. What happens outside is another question.

Meditation & Asana Practice: To take your balance further, practice the above-mentioned poses, and observe how your emotional and mental states effect the physical pose. Do you enjoy greater balance in the morning or in the evening,  on still versus windy days, in summer or in winter, in a class or when alone. How much do energies outside of your SELF affect you?

YOGA JOURNAL activity:  five-minute free write on balance in your life, recording some of your observations from practice. Feel free to share some of your reflections with other yogi-nis in the comment section on this page.

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Since I began a discussion of inversions with the benefits of a modified shoulderstand, it might be beneficial to continue with a look at the full pose, sarvangasana. Here are 3 videos for studying. Even if you are an experienced shoulderstandee, I recommend you study the videos for tips you may have forgotten or perhaps that were missed when you first learned the pose.

*Please remember to seek medical advice BEFORE inverting, especially because shoulderstand is contraindicated for menstruation, glaucoma, displaced retina, uncontrolled high blood pressure, certain neck or back issues, as well as other conditions.

*ALWAYS learn the pose from a qualified teacher before attempting it on your own.

*Come out of the pose if it doesn’t feel right for you on that particular day.

*YOU are the only one who knows how your body is feeling on any given day.

* Remember to be patient and begin with short stay in sarvangasana, increase your timing gradually, say 15 seconds more each subsequent shoulderstand you attempt.

*Ringing in the ears, a sense of fullness or pressure in the head, or quickness of breath are signs that you should come down. Please heed them.

*Spend some time transitioning out of the pose. Traditionally, FISH pose is practiced, but you can try a supported fish by sliding your head and shoulders off of the support, and resting your hips elevated on the blankets. Knees can be bent or straightened. Spend at least half the time you were upside-down, in the transition phase to allow the back and mind to settle.

Even early in your practice of sarvangasana, you may begin to reap some of the many benefits of the “Queen” of Yoga. As you grow proficient in the pose, the benefits continue to accrue and deepen.

For those of you who are more experienced with shoulderstand, you may benefit from studying B.K.S. Iyengar teaching a master class:

FOR FURTHER READING:

AN EXCELLENT ARTICLE ON SHOULDERSTAND FROM YOGA.COM

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When advertising my classes, I stress developing flexibility, strength, and balance. Most people will read that and presume I’m referring to physical aspects focused upon in the classes, which is true.

However, FLEXIBILITY, BALANCE, and STRENGTH are qualities needing development in every mind, heart, and life.

When I canceled classes at the last minute in order to attend a weekend yoga workshop, my teacher emailed and praised my flexibility. It’s a beautiful aspect of a well-developed yoga practice, he said (or something to that effect).

During March, I’ve taken some time away from the computer. As the regular readers will have noticed, there were few posts – and I still need to answer some of the exquisite comments that have been made – I also spent little time posting updates on Twitter and FaceBook. It was enough for me to scan my emails and answer the most pressing. I didn’t read many blogs, nor did I spend much time in my beloved Comfort Cafe! My excuse is that I felt myself digging further into a cyber-rut and I needed “out.”

For me, March became a time to re-charge and do something DIFFERENT (doing something different is a hallmark of flexibility, right?)

I DID allow myself to collect some garden manure at Renee’s Poop Party, wallow in some genealogical research, take long walks, rake my gardens, read, and begin to create my poetry collection, BAREFOOT & UPSIDE DOWN. I visited my folks in North Carolina, spent an afternoon with my cousin, helped a fellow writer on a project, saw my old writing mentor, and chatted on SKYPE with my family, including my sis in Poland.

So there, I’m certifiably FLEXIBLE. And it’s got nothing whatsoever to do with how close my chin comes to my shin in forward-fold. Or does it?

FLEXIBILITY is about softening, releasing, exhaling.

In yoga practice, we scan for places in our body where we may be holding, grasping, clenching, knotted, or otherwise shortening our physical selves, our energetic selves.

In meditation, we observe our minds and hearts for these same rigid, knotty, and hard patterns.

These patterns have developed over the course of our lifetime in response to myriad events.

FLEXIBILITY is about re-wiring fixed patterns. As we grow older, we continue to develop more and deeper patterns. Whether we look at our daily breath, or where we hold our stress, or how we approach problematic relationships, we can probably find several long-standing and typical ways of responding. There is a yogic saying: YOU ARE ONLY AS YOUNG AS YOUR SPINE (is flexible).

Neuroscientists say that FLEXIBILITY is important for keeping our brains young. PBS had a great series on the AGING BRAIN:

In yoga and meditation,as in every other area, it’s important to maintain a soft attitude toward our flexibility. Commanding ourselves to release: YOU WILL SOFTEN THOSE STEEL-TINGED SHOULDERS OR ELSE! is a lot like kicking the horse when you want it to trot. A gentle attitude works with horses as it does with our shoulders and our crankiness.

Fortunately, we have a great tool for helping us to release deeper: the breath. Without even using words, we can send the breath to those crying hamstrings in forward fold and, focusing on the exhalation, release the belly and feel the hams grow longer.

In meditation, we can return to watching the breath when we find ourselves caught up in repetitious thought patterns, thereby creating space between the nuggets of verbiage that repeat ad nauseum in our cerebrum.

As far as those pesky relationship issues, try a little softening and breathing and see if things don’t iron out- at least somewhat, if not altogether.

And regarding moods that can overtake our entire life while raging unchecked, try more sitting and breathing, more yoga stretching, with much more softening all around.

Don’t take it all so seriously; that’s a sure fire way to grow more rigid. Throw some light and laughter at your stiffness, your bleakness, your obsessions, your life. It’s spring, after all.

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Dariel Woltz in Niralamba Sarvangasana

Thinking about how beauty and truth intersect. . . . .It’s a classic. Yoga poses are inherently visually striking when performed well. One of the rewards of teaching yoga is to catch a student in a pose that is BEAUTIFUL for him or her. Sometimes I must just stand back and clap in appreciation.

I’ll inevitably say “Now, THAT’S your pose!”

We all have this capacity for holding truth within us. Yoga teaches us to have a BEAUTIFUL life as well as a TRUTHFUL life.

Please spend some time WATCHING your teachers and your classmates as they practice/perform their poses. Let the BEAUTY and the TRUTH of the asana invade you and imprint upon you like your fav song lyrics. You know — the ones you hear and then can’t get out of your head! Asana can imprint upon you in just that way, if you invite it.

A few years ago, I was creating and conducting workshops on poems influenced by artwork, trying to inspire folks to marry the two fields in unusual and insightful ways. There are many poems now that use artwork as inspiration or that include their words in visual representations. There are entire collections wherein poets have used the visual arts for their MUSE just as there have been art shows focusing on WORD ART.

Here’s a poem I wrote a couple of years ago on the subject of truth and beauty. Thinking about Keat, of course — and please do listen to his poem read out loud using the link below my poem.

Beauty/truth

The sun rises

Every breath breathes

The heart drums

Legs lengthen

Eyes shudder

Truth is a bed in crumpled linen

A pillow limp from cranial weight

An open book flat upon the floor—

another page unread

Light flicks through dust motes and glistens

A cloud undulates in the bathroom

The towel damp on the rack

A night of nothingness dissolves

On the floor forgotten pajamas

Naked the day opens

Beauty is a bowl spoon and cup

ready on the wooden table

A coffeepot humming its routine

The mouth moistens

while sunshine pours

its sweet sauce through the shades

Do spend a meditative moment or two listening to a Fabulous rendition of Keat’s classic, Ode on a Grecian Urn. You won’t be sorry, promise!

I’m still trying to figure out ways to make these blog awards meaningful to you, my readers. I will gladly entertain your thoughts on the subject. In the meanwhile, I’m following BlissChick’s lead – using them as a chance to highlight some of the blogs I’ve been reading and enjoying lately. These particular blogs have a BEAUTIFUL look to them as well as content-rich posts.

CULINARY BAZAAR – makes food look so good, my belly starts to growl just reading the recipes

YOGA, the MIND and CULTURE – a sister on the yoga journey with artwork that really highlights her posts and makes them even more arresting

CHANGETHERAPY - a blogger who covers a lot of territory on her blog and I find her posts enriching as well as beautiful beyond the surface. Hint: Take a peek at some of her Wordless Wednesday posts; I love them.

YOGA for CYNICS – an outrageous attitude that is uplifting without trying, or even wanting to be – has a knack for beautiful images too though I think he collects them from around the web

BUDDAOFHOLLYWOOD – a tender one with a flair for creating zen stories just when you need them!

Do you think that Truth is beauty and Beauty is Truth…do you think that THAT is all you need to know?

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dicentra in Fredonia NY (devin photo)

Since I’ve been tagged repeatedly by FaceBook friends, I’ve gotten the message that I should provide a little more “personal” type info. for my beloved readers! So here goes, round two of 25 random thoughts….

25 Random Thoughts about LaughingYogini

1. Practices asana as a form of prayer.

2. Tore her Achilles doing the “Energy” Yoga tape with Rodney Yee and Patricia Walden ….which she did every morning after the kids left for school and M. went to work….for a solid year…still remembers the “zing” in the back of her heel  (1998 or so)

3. She and Mike spent their 25^th wedding anniversary at the London Iyengar Institute in an all-day workshop on standing poses.

4. Loves teaching college students (and younger!) because of their energy and willingness to go where they’ve never gone before!

5.  Wishes her tummy was smaller so she could go deeper in several poses.

6. Is still waiting to get into full splits on the floor, lift into a complete backbend, do a headstand away from the wall, clasp her hands behind her back in gomukhasana…..hmmmm, the list goes on….but who really cares since she is alive and well and feels like a goddess in ardha chandrasana?

7. Worked intensely for 2 years with a meditation teacher with whom she no longer studies. She did however, ramp up her sitting practice AND learned a lot about herself in the process.

8. No longer publishes her e-zine CIRCLE YOGA. Laughing Yogini blog and website launched in May 2008.

9. Practiced a half hour of ujjayi breath every day for six solid months while grieving a family member’s illness and credits THAT to her own life.

10. While in legs up the wall pose, listened to Pema Chodron cds every afternoon for many many months.

11. Teaches seniors because they ROCK and they don’t hold back!

12.Will probably never become a complete and utter vegetarian, though she really does love her veggies.

13. Has always believed in a higher power…god, the goddess, the Self. The Great Spirit,  energy, collective unconscious….you know what I mean. Believes that higher is within.

14. After returning from living in Mumbai, the entire family — parents and kids: 12, 11, 8 years old — practiced yoga on the living room floor following the suggestions of Richard Hittleman’s YOGA…for about a year.

15. Her back went “electrical” when F. tried to straighten her up in sarvangasana on the last day of her first teacher training! Not to worry, sometimes body parts need adjustments.

16. Gave each other yoga ropes for their 30^th wedding anniversary (2 years ago). These are now in the basement studio and add a lot of zing to their personal practice as well as the classes.

17. Researched in Light on Yoga by B.K.S.Iyengar how to help heel spurs after being told by therapist that she’d never be able to walk barefoot…she’d already tried most of traditional medicine’s treatments at that time….after practicing Supta Virasana regularly those pesky heel spurs softened!

18. Graduated from 2 separate teacher trainings. Really LOVED BOTH of them even though they were quite different from each other. Sometimes it’s not the “advanced certificate” that’s as important as much as the knowledge that can be absorbed.

19. Is not happy with what the x-rays said about her lower back (spurs, eburnation, bone on bone) BUT is determined to continue honoring the “sacred space in the lumbar spine” as Vanda Scaravelli says.

20. Wishes she would find time to read and reread all of the yoga and meditation books she has on her shelf.

21. Was born bow-legged. Once found a pair of her baby shoes with boards connecting them at the arches which were supposed to straighten out her legs, according to Mom Kieber. She’s still working on straightening those bones!

22. Wishes she were more photogenic so she could create yoga videos just the way she thinks they’d be instructive for her students…ahhh well, they’ll have to make do with podcasts….the oral tradition.

23. While she’s broadcasting wishes: she wishes she had a full and complete studio built over the garage! And …..she’d like to get some training with Tibetans!

24. Was first introduced to YOGA nearly 40 years ago in Mater Dei High School Yoga Club. Blessings on that sweet teacher, whoever and wherever you are today!

25. Has found a deep connection to her yoga kula: students, friends, teachers, online acquaintances. She’s grateful for the wellspring of support and love that she has found there and hopes to return the sweetness with every breath.

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Yoga and prayer…do they go together…do YOU bring them together? Yoga asana IS prayer for me. It’s the prayer of the body in motion. It’s opening my SELF to the grace of the universe.It is working to create a sustainable body/mind/spirit and therefore family/friendships/community/nation/world.

Sitting meditation – is it a prayer? Yes’m indeed. We sit to develop compassion; all practice is for compassion. Imagine if those in the West Wing sat everyday, hell, sat once a week and practiced Lovingkindness meditation….Imagine (as John Lennon did but the world has not quite grasped the work involved yet…Imagination + Prayer/Practice =  a more loverly world!) ahhh, for today – as we enter upon the inauguration of a new era – just imagine….

John Lennon – Imagine – Funny videos are here

This post is dedicated to another Jersey girl, a member of the original Mater Dei yoga club back in 1971: “White Cathy” – and the benevolent work she has done and continues to do! It’s a blessing and inspiration to know you. And with thanks to ageless hippie chick for turning me on to the vid.

Yoga and meditation teach us to open ourselves; to free ourselves from the confines of our “programming,” of what we have been inculcated by society. The practice informs us of a greater existence, a greater SELF that we can aspire to and it is a SELF that we all belong to in this great human family – some would say in this family of all sentient beings.

Do you believe in the power of prayer to change the world? Do you act on that belief? How does it affect your life? – or the lives of those around you?

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When the elder yogini grinned up at me from her head on a blanket on the floor – her legs up in the air of the studio – her backside securely perched on the folding chair – I could see that she was in the “correct” position and the correct position felt good!!!

If you are unfamiliar with the pose, check out  Witold Fitz-Simon’s article on supported shoulderstand.

Supported shoulderstand on Chair (ckg photo)

Why do I like to be upside down? my haloed student asked, hoping, I think, that I’d have an answer.

When I told her that I loved an inversion too, she said that ever since she was a kid, she’d always enjoyed being upside down. She’s a young seventy-something.

Looking at her sparkling blue eyes, and the way that her wavy alabaster curls spread about her head like a halo on the blanket, I wondered why reversing the flow of gravity pulling our physical self to the earth should give such an emotional boost. Sure, yogis have said since ancient times “You are only as young as your spine” ….and the spine strengthens whenever our feet lift and our head drops.

We know the health benefits of inversions:

• venous blood flow returns to the heart with ease
• nerves are soothed and headaches relieved
• thyroid and parathyroid glands are bathed in blood and brought into healthful condition (yogic wisdom)
• with repeated and regular practice, hypertension, and unstable emotions are regulated

B.K.S.Iyengar calls Salamba Sarvangasana the “Queen of Poses” – Headstand is the “King of Poses.” Though he doesn’t discuss the supported or chair version of the pose in his classic text, Light on Yoga, he does discuss at length the benefits of standing upon one’s shoulders:

The importance of sarvangasana cannot be over-emphasized. It is one of the greatest boons conferred on humanity by our ancient sages. Sarvangasana is the Mother of asanas. As a mother strives for harmony and happiness in the home, so this asana strives for the harmony and happiness of the human system. It is a panacea for most common ailments.  There are several endocrine organs or ductless glands in the human system which bathe in blood, absorb the nutrients from the blood and secrete hormones for the proper functioning of a balanced and well developed body and brain.”

Though I am taking a break from inversions until my neck heals from the injury I incurred in November, I really miss supported shoulderstand as it was a regular part of my daily practice. I found it was indispensable for alleviating the pain of varicose veins. It also helped on a psychological level, promoting seeing the world from a different perspective. This benefit is not often emphasized, but I find very important in my own practice, teaching and life.

Texas wildflowers at dusk (Mark Knight photo)

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