Category: Yoga

I thought the past YTT weekends were awesome… Well, they’re about to get “awesomer” (yes, I know that’s not a word…)!!!

The topic of the past weekend was Vinyasa Krama.  Vinyasa Krama (not to be mistaken for “Vinyasa Flow”), is the intelligent sequencing of a practice with a specific intention or goal.
“Vi” = in a special way
“Nyasa” = to place
“Krama” = system, step, order, sequence, series, progressing step-by-step

Basically, in Vinyasa Krama, each asana (pose) is picked and placed in a specific order purposefully.  There’s a rhyme and a reason for the way each asana is sequenced.  There are three main reasons for this “intelligent sequencing, placed in a special way” are to:
1. Reduce the risk of possible injuries in a particular asana or yoga practice,
2. To adjust one asana from another, and
3. To create the energetic effects desired within the practice.

Anyone can put a bunch of asanas together and call it a “yoga class”; but to design a Vinyasa Krama class, one must plan and choose each asana with a purpose.

Our yoga practice on Saturday KICKED MY BUTT!!!  We stayed in certain poses for up to 5 minutes!  One of the asanas that we stayed in for 4 – 5 minutes was the active pigeon (think pigeon pose with the back leg off the floor and foot flexed while you fold forward).  My back leg started to shake so much!  Since Shanon advised that before coming out of a pose, ask ourselves why we wanted to come out of it, I had a nice dialogue within myself; my physical-self said, “Oh my goodness, your leg is shaking violently!  You can’t hold it any longer,” but my mind said, “You’re okay.  You’ll be fine.”  “No, I can’t do this,” my physical-self whined… but my mind stayed calm and said, “Sure you can.  You’re already doing it.”  It took me back to the internal dialogue that I had within myself when I was in labor (over 8 years ago).  After the practice, I felt so strong, accomplished… unbreakable!

We ended our Sunday session with Restorative Yoga which I was grateful for because I was still sore from the previous evening!  My only experience with Restorative Yoga was a couple months ago at a yoga studio about 15-20 minutes away from my house.  I recall not enjoying it AT ALL, so I figured I would have the same experience… boy, was I wrong!  We stayed in each pose for quite some time, but when Shanon cued us to begin coming out of the pose, I was thinking, “Aw, man!  That wasn’t long enough!”  I didn’t want that practice to end…  So after my new-found love for Restorative Yoga, I came to the conclusion that either the environment of my first Restorative Yoga class was not conducive to the practice, or I must be evolving…  Or maybe a little bit of both.

The topic of Vinyasa Krama continues for the next two YTT weekend sessions… I’m so in love with this experience!

 

So until next time… May your days be bright and your heart be light!

Namaste.

This post should have been published at the end of April… With so much going on, I just sat down to finish this one… Weekend #5 post to follow soon…

 

I’m really loving these YTT (Yoga Teacher Training) Weekends!

I was so excited going into this weekend because we were going to be covering Twists and Inversions (and of course, more Human Anatomy which I absolutely love!).  I love twisting asanas because it feels so good on the spine… It feels like I’m giving myself a chiropractic session!  Also, I love what it does to the digestive system.  The “wringing out” motion of twists leaves me feeling so “cleared”!  I’ve been doing Sarvangasana (Shoulder Stand) and recently started working on my Salamba Sirsasana (Supported Headstand), so I was ready and eager to have the whole day (Sunday) dedicated to Inversions.

The lecture portions on Friday, Saturday and Sunday were really eye-opening.  Twists do more than just wring you out.  I learned that they have the energetic ability to center and ground you.  Twists, if done improperly, can cause your disks to bulge (ouch!) among other things.  It’s extremely important to keep the spine straight when twisting.

As far as inversions, I never realized how unsafe some of the poses could be!  Sarvangasana, for example, can cause the ligament in the back of the neck to stretch (and once ligaments are stretched, they remain stretched).  Being that the ligaments, the muscles, the bones and the disks in the neck work to protect the spinal cord starting at the base of the head, stretching out the ligament is probably not the most favorable thing to do!
(Here’s a great article on the dangers of certain asanas:  http://www.drmccall.com/yoga/bodyyoga.pdf)
I must admit, headstands are a bit addicting… but I’ve promised myself that I will practice this pose sparingly (maybe once every other leap year at most) if I feel the deep desire to do so.
We tried a lot of the inversions in class just for a little bit (so that we understand, as Yoga Teachers, how they would feel).  Shanon also guided us in trying out some great modifications of the poses.  One of the poses that I absolutely love (which is one of the safer poses) is Viparita Karani (Jack Knife).  This can also be done against a wall with a bolster as a prop, but I love how this pose feels away from the wall.  Holding this pose for several minutes creates such an uplifting energy… I will be doing this pose more often!

The weekend ended with relaxation and some pranayama (Prana Shudhi, Kabhala Bati, and breath manipulation).  After our “Namaste”, I left feeling so energetic, like I could conquer the world!

Until next time… May your days be bright and your heart be light!

Namaste.

Because of my not-so-pleasant experience with the Forward Bend practices from weekend #2, I was not as excited to start weekend #3 of In-Depth Yoga Studies & Teacher Training program with Shanon Buffington. 

As we started the topic of the weekend (Back Bends and Laterals), we discussed how we felt after the Forward Bend practice from weekend #2.  It turned out that there were several of us that felt low in energy and a bit somber in our mood.  Shanon explained that although we did some counter-poses, Forward Bends tend to be more grounding and therefore, can bring one’s energy down (which is great if you need to have your energy brought down from being too high).  She went on to inform us that if we liked Forward Bends, then Back Bends may not be our favorite practice (since it brings your energy up) and vice versa.

I always enjoy the Friday night lectures because the human anatomy fascinates me.  It blows me away how intricately the human body is designed.  The spine, for example, has three primary curves: Thoracic, Sacral and Coccyx.  This is what we’re born with.  As we grow and develop, we get our secondary spinal curves: Cervical and Lumbar.  This amazing spine of ours protects the spinal chord and nerves, and it supports about half of our body weight!  (Okay, back to weekend #3…)

Although I’ve always been hesitant about doing too many back bends because of my sciatic nerve pain, I was excited to explore how my body and my energy responds to a back bend practice.  Saturday’s practice was amazing.  We worked on several back bends such as Dhanurasana (Bow Pose), Dwipada Pitham (Two-Legged Table), and Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (One-Legged King Pigeon Pose).  We then worked on our apex asana, Urdhva Dhanurasana (Full Wheel Pose).  I don’t do this asana often, but when I was in this asana, I felt a sudden sense of… LIBERATION!  I felt so liberated and strong!  This (and the other back bends) elevated my mood and energy to a point that after class on Saturday, I went home and did an intense workout for an hour and a half!

On Sunday, we discussed our own experiences with the previous day’s asana practice.  There were some who were up past 2 AM (one girl was up until 4 AM!) because they had such a surge of energy from the practice!  Our Lateral asana practice was pretty uplifting as well (but not equal to back bends).

Weekend #3 ended on such positive spirits on my end, I want to bottle this energy up!

Going into the first weekend of my In-Depth Yoga Studies & Teacher Training program with Shanon Buffington, I really didn’t know what to expect.  In my mind, I thought there would be about 10-15 people because the yoga studio that we were meeting at, Rescue Yoga in Carrollton, was fairly a small studio (I took a Zumba class there last year).  I also thought I would see some seriously enlightened, advanced Yogis (you know, the kind of folks that seem to ooze “Yoga” out of every pore on their bodies).  I was wrong in every semi-expectation that I had.

I got to Rescue Yoga at 5:15 PM to meet my husband at the front (we were doing a pick-up/drop-off of Jade, our 8 year-old daughter; his office is closer to the studio than it is to our house).  Once I kissed my family good-bye, I walked in to find that the studio had expanded!  The studio was as inviting as before, but it was much more spacious!  After I put my boots away in a cubby just outside of the room that we were going to be meeting in, I grabbed my mat and headed toward the room.  As I walked in, I met Shanon, the woman who was about to change my life.  She was warm and genuine as she greeted me.  “You must be Jheni,” she said.  There’s just something great about meeting someone in person after following her on Facebook and her website… but when she actually recognizes your face, it just makes it so much greater.

Once everyone showed up (at 5:30 PM), we started the evening with introductions followed by a short meditation (or the other way around… I forgot).   Some of the students – 24 in all – seemed to be in the same boat as I am; previous injuries, dancers, fitness instructors…  Some have been practicing yoga for years; others were fairly new in their yoga practice.  But one thing we all had in common is that we were beginning this wonderful journey together as students of yoga being taught by the same guru, Shanon Buffington.

We dove right into the topic of this weekend, Anatomy and Physiology.  Being that I have a slight medical background (I was a Certified Nurse’s Assistant when I was 18, and my dance classes in college required us to learn the human kinetics related to dance), I was loving the breakdown of the muscular and the skeletal system!  It was a lot of information to take in, but Shanon taught in such a way that was practical and exciting (okay, I may be bit of a geek…).

We got out on Friday at 8:30 PM, and then were back at the studio on Saturday and Sunday from 1 PM to 6 PM, which included three hours of lecture each day, followed by an asana practice (the physical practice of yoga) on Saturday and Yoga Nidra on Sunday.

“What is Yoga Nidra,” you ask?  Great question!  I didn’t know what it was when Shanon announced it on Sunday.  Yoga Nidra (also known as “yogic-sleep”) is a meditation practice that induces a full-body relaxation.  A quote from Rod Stryker, my guru’s guru:

“We live in a chronically exhausted, over stimulated world.  “Yoga Nidra is a systematic method of complete relaxation, holistically addressing our physiological, neurological, and subconscious needs.”

I found myself in such a relaxed state that I kept thinking I was asleep, yet I was fully aware of myself.  When our 30-minute Yoga Nidra practice ended, I was bummed out that it was over because it was such a peaceful, carefree, relaxing 30 minutes that I’ve had in a very long time.  30 minutes of Yoga Nidra is believed to be the equivalent of 2 hours of sleep!

The weekend concluded with some homework assignments (reading one of our required-textbooks, Anatomy and Asana: Preventing Yoga Injuries, answering the 31 review questions, and documenting our practice in the Practice Journal) as I smiled at my new classmates who, I have a feeling, will become important people in my journey of self-realization that is Yoga.

Namaste.