The Yoga Lunchbox

Learning, laughter and letting go: Hazel on her first 10 days of a Hot Yoga Challenge

Guest Author — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:31:10 +0000

Hot Yoga Teacher Lou gives student Hazel an adjustment

by guest author & freelance writer Hazel Slade

“Hazel… Are you mad?”

This was the reaction of one of my friends when I told her I was entering into a 40 day Hot Yoga challenge.

And, I have to admit, over the past 10 days I have often asked myself that very same question.

At the beginning of last week, just days into the challenge, it would have been an unequivocal yes. And let me tell you why.

For the first few days of this challenge I ached.

My whole body ached.

Muscles which I didn’t even know I had ached.

All I could think about was how much doing this much yoga hurts and how mad I must be to be putting myself through it.

But as the days, and classes, have gone on, the aches have lessened. Now quarter of the way through and over that initial hurdle, my body is no longer screaming at me. It still cries out, but the noise is much quieter.

I believe there are two reasons for this. The first is the obvious one. Like with any form of exercise, my muscles are becoming stronger, my endurance is better and, as expected, I am becoming more flexible.

But there is another reason.

When I started this challenge I was treating each class like an exercise class. And why the physical benefits of yoga are undisputed, yoga is not sport. Yoga is life. Slowly my mind has stopped trying to control each class. I have stopped trying to do each posture as well as my neighbour. Instead, I am slowly learning to let my body take over. Let my body do the yoga. Or, as Claire would say, let the yoga take my body.

By the end of the first week I had had a break through.

As I stopped forcing my body into the postures and instead letting it naturally lead them where they wanted to go, I have started to feel much more in control. My mind isn’t rushing me through the class anymore. My mind has sat back quietly and lets my body take it’s time. And the results, though small at the moment, have been fantastic.

Let me give you an example.

Back bends have always been a challenge for me. They have always made my head spin like I am on a rollercoaster, and this has made me dread them. But, as I stopped forcing myself to go further back than my body was ready for, and started letting my muscles take over, they have become easier. And, in doing this, I have in fact found myself naturally going backwards further and further, without even thinking about it.

So, learning to let my body take over was the first break through of this first quarter – and the one which convinced me I wasn’t mad.

However, the second break through almost convinced me I was mad again, but for a different reason.

It came during a Yin class this week.

Now, I have always known that yoga not only benefits you on the outside, but also on the inside. I knew it, but I wasn’t sure if I really believed it. Yes, I felt peaceful in some classes. And, yes, I felt energised and buzzing after most practices. But the cynical journalist in me still refused to completely buy into it. Could this practice really bring balance to my life? Was it having effects on my inner being that I couldn’t see? I wasn’t convinced.

But this week I had probably the biggest breakthrough in this area during all the years I have practiced.

It all came down to a burst of unexplained laughter, which bubbled out of me unexpectedly right in the middle of a Yin class.

There was no explanation for it. I was not thinking about anything funny. I wasn’t laughing at any of my other yogis (I promise). It just happened while I was lying peacefully in sleeping swan.

Funnily enough, later in that class, Claire actually told a story of a yogi who felt like she wanted to cry in a certain posture, despite feeling fine when she entered the class. She explained that bursts of unexpected emotions just meant the yoga was working.

And that was it for me.

I am convinced.

I know now that the journey this yoga adventure is taking me is not just simply physical. It is also emotional. And personal. And since that class my expectations of what this challenge can mean for me has grown 10 fold. I now feel like this has not just been the start of the challenge, but the start of a change in myself.

There is also a second part to this challenge which has taken much less adjusting to.

Following each class, not only do I have the joy of sticking a brightly coloured sticker on the board, but I pick up my green juice smoothie. To begin with I guzzled the whole thing as I walked home from the studio. But it only took two times of doing this to realise that I wasn’t reaping the full benefits (and it was making me feel rather sick). So, now I take it home with me and just as the wave of tiredness begins to hit me about 30 minutes after a class, I drink my smoothie. The burst of goodness is like fuel to a fire, giving me that boost and that rehydration that I need.

So that has been my first 10 days.

No real downs do far, just ups, ups and more ups.

But what I haven’t told you is that during these 10 days I haven’t been working full time, so fitting the yoga around my life has been pretty easy. However, during the next 30 days I will be, like Dolly Parton said, working 9 to 5.

So it will be interesting to see how the yoga fits around that…. or more correctly how the work fits around the yoga.

Not sure if I will ever be able to get up for the 6.30am class, but we will see.

Hazel Slade

More on Hazel Slade:

Hazel is a freelance writer who believes that the written word has the power to move mountains.

Growing up in England, Hazel spent many years working as a writer and journalist, before bringing her love for the written word to New Zealand.

Hazel discovered a love for all things Yogi almost five years ago while living in London, but she has never undergone such an immense undertaking as the 40-day challenge.

She’s hoping to combine her passion of yoga and writing for a truly enriching experience for both herself and her readers.

More on Hot Yoga’s 40-Day Challenge:

Held twice a year, a Hot Yoga 40-Day Challenge is a personal commitment to 5 yoga classes a week with 5 minutes of quiet time each session. A daily green smoothie and attendance at special Hot Yoga events expand the Challenge experience. Students discover the power that comes with a sustained yoga practice. Check out Hot Yoga’s website to find out when the next challenge starts.

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Trust those feelings of yours… they’re trying to tell you something!

Kara-Leah Grant — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:31:34 +0000

The stream that runs alongside our house... heavenly!

by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat

It’s Monday morning and I have a stack of work to do.

There’s a multitude of emails in my inbox, two WordPress clients expecting results, my personal website to re-brand, articles to load into The Yoga Lunchbox, numerous tasks for the website, accounts to do, workshops to prepare, classes to prep…

The list goes on and on and I haven’t even mentioned writing.

Which – as you may have noticed in the last few months – keeps getting moved to the end of the queue because I have all these other things that must get done.

Yet the reason I’m doing all these other things is because I started writing this website. And love writing this website. But I don’t have time to write anymore!

Moreover, in the last year I’ve probably worked an average of 20 to 30 hours a week and, after expenses, I haven’t made a single cent.

This morning, with my son wanting me to play with him, and the sun shining, and my writing muse begging for some love…

…I had to wonder…

What the hell am I doing?

Indeed.

What am I doing?

Mostly, I’m building a business so I can become financially independent, and able to support myself and my son.

Looking at last year, with all the work I did, and the money I didn’t make, I have to ask myself, is it working?

And I don’t know if it is. Not as I’ve been doing it anyway.

This morning, as I feel my frsutration levels rising, and anger building as I struggle with my work load, I know it’s time to tune in and pay attention to these feelings.

What’s the message my deeper Self is sending out through these bodily sensations?

I can sense it’s my creative Self asking for relief so she has the space to express herself.

So I ditch all the have-to-dos and instead start writing.

The relief is instantaneous.

This is what I’m here to do.

This is why I started this website.

This is what people respond to most.

This is where my value lies – in being able to observe the internal processes of being human, and write about it in such a way that other people can see their own journey reflected in mine.

So many of us feel trapped, spending our days doing things because we think we have to, putting off the things we know our soul is crying out for us to do. I’m not alone in this.

In my situation, everything is self-imposed. I’m choosing to fill my life up with all this stuff because I’m trying to get somewhere.

But where?

Financially independent?

What does that mean?

It means I’ve got the time and space to devote to my passions – to writing and teaching.

But instead of seeing this as some event off in the future though, I know that I need to make it real right now.

How can I create that time and space for teaching and writing right now, because now is all that exists?

Sometime’s it’s as simple as just opening up a blank page and starting to write.

It’s making everything else wait and knowing that it will be ok. The sky won’t fall if I take this hour to write.

But it’s also looking at the rest of my life and seeing how I can create more space.

That means four more hours of childcare for my son every week, so I can be more present with him when he is around.

It means hiring my first employee so I can pass off the admin tasks of running this website and instead focus on the writing of the website.

It means letting go of the work that doesn’t serve my core purpose – like creating WordPress websites.

And it also means paying close attention anytime I want to start something new, or say Yes! to something new. I need to ask myself, is this really worth devoting time towards?

For now, I’m closing my computer, and going to play with my son. Maybe sitting outside on the deck and watching the ducks in the stream that run past our house. Or walking to the park to push him in the swing.

It takes trust for me to do this – trust that it’s ok to stop, trust that it’s ok to listen to my body and know that my feelings are valid. Trust that I do know what’s best for me. That I’m not shirking, or being lazy.

Once upon a time, I would’ve denied or suppressed these feelings. Run away from them, or the situation that was generating them.

Now I know that these feelings are important. They’re there to show me that I’m slightly off course. That I need to tune in, listen, and respond.

It’s so simple really.

No big drama.

No big struggle.

Just a noticing.

Ah.. something is out of balance.

And a response.

Bringing myself back into balance.

That’s all.

Simple.

But never easy.

I reckon that’s why I seem to be learning the same lesson every few months… over and over.

Maybe this time I’ll finally get it.

Stay posted.

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Introducing “Yoga on a Plate:” A New Column for the Yoga Lunchbox

Valerie Love — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 19:31:16 +0000

Valerie Love

by new regular columnist Valerie Love, Yoga on a Plate

If you asked me to name the things—people not included—that make me happiest, yoga and good food would be at the top of the list. So writing a column that combined my passions for both of those things seemed like a no-brainer.

Except that the more I began to sit down and think about it, the more challenging and the more daunting it became.

Many of us, whether yogis or not, have complicated relationships with food at some point in our lifetime.

For many, these struggles are ongoing. And what’s “healthy” for one person can be the exact opposite for another.

With so much information out there already trying to define how we eat or how we should be eating, I wondered if it was worth it to add yet another voice to the mix. (Since you’re currently reading this, obviously my answer was yes!)

But before we go any further, let me give you an overview of who I am, why I’m writing this column, and what I hope for it to be.

Born in the United States, I began cooking as a child when my parents gave me a copy of Betty Crockers’ Cookbook for Boys and Girls for my 8^th birthday.

I read it from cover to cover and tried just about every recipe in the book. At age 12, I decided to stop eating meat. I scoured the public library for vegetarian cookbooks, and discovered a whole new world of food beyond what I’d grown up with. I became more adventurous in my cooking with each new recipe I tried.

Admittedly, I was no immediate prodigy in the kitchen—my older sister still loves to tell the story of my attempt to roast chestnuts in the oven that almost burned down the house! But over the years I became more and more skilled, and my cooking has been influenced by my travels, which include cooking classes in Bangkok and a year spent living and studying in Florence, Italy.

I first began practicing yoga over seven years ago after a friend and yogini recommended it for my chronically tight back and shoulders. Initially, I made every excuse in the book why yoga wasn’t right for me, and it was a while before I actually got myself to that first class.

But as soon as I did, I was hooked. The more I practiced yoga, the better I felt– both physically and emotionally.

Over the next five years, I found innumerable benefits from a dedicated yoga practice, and in 2010 began a year-long yoga teacher training program in tantric hatha yoga at Samadhi Yoga Studio in Manchester, Connecticut.

It was a year that literally changed everything in my life.

The more deeply I began to study yoga and ayurveda, yoga’s healthy living sister science, the more I realized that the professional success I had achieved in my career wasn’t actually what I wanted. What I wanted was to leave it all behind and to follow my heart.

And so I did.

I quit my job in the US and moved to Wellington in August 2011. Currently I teach yoga at several studios and gyms around the city. In my yoga classes, I often tell my students to let their practice be an exploration—to let go of any goals or expectations about what their practice–or even a particular posture– is supposed to be, and let themselves experience whatever it actually is in that moment.

This column will be a similar exploration. I’m excited to share my knowledge of yoga, ayurveda, and food, and grateful for the opportunity to learn more myself along the way.

There is a natural connection between yoga and food, as well as the energy centres, or chakras, in the body.

In yoga, it’s said that the belly is governed by the third of the seven energy chakras in the body. This third chakra, Manipura Chakra, is associated with digestion and metabolism on a physical level, and is the space where the body converts the food we eat into the energy we use to live our lives. On a mental and spiritual level, Manipura Chakra is associated with self-esteem, transformative energy, and determination.

As Barbara Kaplan Herring states;

A healthy, spirited third chakra supports us in overcoming inertia, jump-starting our ‘get-up-and-go’ attitude so that we can take risks, assert our will, and assume responsibility for our life… When you feel disempowered or in need of re-energizing, third chakra poses fan the flames of your inner fire and restore vitality so that you can move from the strength of your core.

Yoga on a Plate is meant to be an offering. I may propose foods or digestion-inspired sequences for you to try and ask you to experiment with how my suggestions feel for you and your body.

But this column will never tell you what you should be eating, or that you should be doing anything differently than what you currently are.

What I hope to do is to put forward new ways of looking at the connections between the food we eat and the way we live, and offer suggestions for foods that you may find support and compliment your practice. It’s completely up to you if you want to try them or not.

I do hope you’ll join me over the coming weeks and months as we explore the yoga of food together.

...

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An interview with Michelle Taffe, founder of The Global Yogi

Kara-Leah Grant — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:31:45 +0000

MIchelle, the TGY editor scopes out Himalayan yoga ashrams

Thanks to the connective and informative power of the Internet, it’s never been so easy to find what you’re looking for… and that includes in the yoga world too.

Michelle Taffe, a Melbourne based yogi, writer and entrepreneur is the founder of The Global Yogi, a website dedicated to helping yogis check out yoga around the world.

The YLB spoke to Michelle to find out more about her website, who it’s aimed at, and the challenges of starting an internet-based business.

What inspired you to start The Global Yogi?

I was inspired to start The Global Yogi (TGY) because I was looking for a site like it – which would help me plan my yoga journey to India. I guess this is the same reason many people start their endeavours – to create the thing they think is missing in the world.

I wanted to go to Rishikesh to do a yoga program in an ashram but could find no site on the Internet that gave me a good idea of what the town was like and the different places that I could practice yoga.

I thought – there must be plenty of other people like me who are looking for a website with comprehensive information on yoga retreats, trainings, retreat centres and yoga studios around the world in order to plan their travels – so I thought I’d create it.

I was living in Palma (capital of the Spanish Mediterranean island – Majorca) at the time, and had lost my job as an editor on an online lifestyle magazine thanks to visa complications, so I had to think of a new plan for my life.

In Majorca I had met a number of yoga teachers who travelled and taught around the world and I thought that a website like the global yogi could help them to connect with students worldwide, as well as helping people plan their yoga travels. As well I am passionate writer, and I wanted to write articles about yoga and spirituality so I thought I could combine all of these things in TGY.

Who are you aiming the website at? What niche are you trying to fill?

The website is aimed at yogis of all ages who want to travel and practice yoga around the world.

As well as yogis I hope the website appeals to people interested in spirituality, and different spiritual practices in general. In future I want to profile more meditation centres, and monasteries that welcome visitors.

Given the yoga demographic is about 75% female, the ‘niche’ is definitely majority female, and concentrated in Western countries where more people have a level of income that allows them to travel.

What’s been the biggest challenge in kickstarting this baby?

There have been many challenges, but probably the biggest one has been the business aspect of the site – attracting paying yoga businesses to profile their studios and centres on the site.

Also finding the time to keep the site updated with new content while at the same time being the business development, marketing, graphics, web development and Search Engine Optimization department is a constant challenge. Ideally I would have a few assistants!

What’s been the most awesome thing about creating a website?

It has been very exciting to see how many people really like the website and obviously appreciate the information they find on it. I am always getting new signups to the Newsletter, which is a sign that I am doing something right.

Also it has been great going to different yoga festivals around the place – especially the Bali Spirit festival – and connecting with like-minded people at the same time as promoting the global yogi.

How does yoga inform the way you’re doing business?

I am constantly investigating and questioning the whole nature of ‘business’ and how I can run a business that is making a profit while at the same time staying true to my own values and beliefs, and staying true to the mission statement of TGY – which is ‘to help bring the gift of yoga to more people throughout the world, and thus be an agent in the promotion of peace, harmony and love on planet Earth’.

I try to treat ‘business’ in the same way that I would treat a normal personal relationship with anyone – being clear, open and positive in my communication.

Just like in yoga if I find something about the business aspect of TGY is making me uncomfortable – then I pay attention and investigate what is going on underneath.

What do you wish you’d known before you’d started?

Having worked as a web designer, webmaster and web editor / producer, I already had a lot of experience in this area, but was lacking in business experience. So ideally I would have known more about how businesses work before embarking on the project.

But based on the journey with the website so far, I think there is no way that I could have really known about what is involved in running a web magazine and a business without actually doing it.

Maybe I would have benefitted from knowing that it will be lots and lots of hard work and that the rewards may be some time in coming – I think I probably thought that it would be easier and that it would take off kind of by itself – without me having to do so much promotion.

But now that the site is nearing its first anniversary online, the momentum is building and I am excited about the future. I have a number of special TGY projects in the pipeline for this year which I’ll be rolling out in the coming months … so, stay tuned for updates!

Check out The Global Yogi to find out more about International Yoga Retreat Centres like:

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Is Bikram Choudhury really an alien?

Kara-Leah Grant — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 19:31:17 +0000

Bikram

by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat

On Sunday I drove a 440 km round-trip to see Bikram Choudbury speak.

Was it worth it?

Absolutely.

Not only did I get to meet more of the NZ yoga community, but I also got to check out Bikram The Man in person as he took the stage for a three and a half hour lecture.

Yep that’s right – Bikram spoke with barely a pause for breath for over three hours, and if it hadn’t been for the insistence of the organizers, he would have kept on going. And going. And going.

Fortunately for the captive audience, Bikram is an engaging, entertaining and informative speaker that knows his stuff, and he knows how to deliver it.

That’s why 95% of the audience lasted the distance, as Bikram regaled us with stories of losing his virginity, healing the President of the United States, and conquering the world with his style of Hatha Yoga.

In between, he gave us a philosophical lecture on the true nature of yoga.

Yoga is everything.

Yoga is a path to Self-realisation.

There are eight kinds of yoga. (Karma, Raja, Bhakti, Jnana, Hatha, Mantra, Laya, and Tantra)

And eight characteristics of yoga. (The eight limbs: yamas, niyamas, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, and samadhi.)

That was the guts of those three hours.

Plus a few other choice tidbits like focusing on the good of what’s happening in every moment.

That there is no right and wrong, just what works and what doesn’t work.

And that he doesn’t have to prove anything, because medical science hasn’t yet caught up to the power of yoga.

It was fascinating. It was informative. And it was totally focused on the spiritual nature of yoga – on Self-realization.

But beyond the subject matter, and the delivery of the lecture, I wanted to know more. I wanted to know who this Bikram guy really is, what’s he about, what’s his truth? Is he Self-Realized?

During the lecture, I found myself swinging, somewhat wildly, from one perspective to another.

As Bikram spoke about his passion to help as many people as possible live a good life through the power of yoga, I was thinking, I love this guy!

But later, when audience members asked serious questions about whether or not Bikram Yoga could help them avoid encroaching blindness, or heal from breast cancer, I cringed at his answers.

Bikram just pulled out another story from his anecdote repository while saying:

Yes, yes, yes, yoga can cure anything.

And maybe it can, but not everything, and not at all times. Those audience members who stood to ask questions weren’t truly listened to, nor responded to.

Bikram heard their question, and answered like he was a robot, reading off the tape in his head.

Even worse, when the audience member asked about breast cancer, it reminded Bikram of a “micro-endoscopy for breast cancer detection” that he’s invented. That unleashed a ten minute spiel on what this tool is and how it will irradiate breast cancer.

This lack of presence is probably the biggest thing I noticed. It felt like Bikram was projecting out to us as he spoke, it didn’t feel like he was connected to us or with us.

I’ve seen a few spiritual teachers and high level yoga teachers over the years, and one thing they usually have in common is presence. It’s hard to quantify this, but it’s like they go far beyond the confines of their body and almost envelop the room with their very being.

I didn’t get this sense with Bikram at all.

He seemed quite contained.

Mostly it felt like he was delivering a performance, one that he was so invested in that it’s not a performance to him at all. He is who he is, and it’s working for him – and the millions of people who have been helped by Bikram Yoga. He knows his yoga, inside and out, and he cares about people.

Bikram is also incredibly youthful and lithe in his body, so much so, that it almost felt like his body and his head were disconnected.

This made me wonder if he’s disconnected – which would account for the lack of connection that I felt from him on stage. It was a strange feeling, almost like he was this alien bouncing around on stage delivering these set pieces.

However, it also felt like Bikram genuinely cares about the people he works with, and in fact, all people. He wants to help people live a good life, and doing so makes him feel really, really good. But it didn’t feel like this caring and passion for helping people came from the heart – perhaps instead from the intellect, or the ego.

There was also a nervousness I detected.

A restlessness to his energy.

A deep-seated fear of just… being. Like he was running from himself. Bikram himself says in this interview that he doesn’t like to be alone.

I cannot be alone more than half an hour. I love to be with people. I communicate well with people, I know them well. I love and enjoy people. That’s my life.

The Bikram teachers who host Bikram as he travels around the world can vouch for this. Bikram is famous for not sleeping. No more than two hours a night. Neither does he eat much. And because he doesn’t like to be alone, that means the teachers who host him know they’re up for a wild ride when he’s around. Bollywood movies at 2am are not uncommon.

It’s a crazy, wild timetable Bikram sticks too, and by all accounts, it’s a lifestyle he loves.

Today, doing some research for this article, I came across this 2005 LA Yoga Magazine interview with Bikram. When the interviewer asks Bikram why he does this work, he answers:

My guru gave me my mantra: make them happy, you will be happy. A lot of people think that I am doing a lot of things for people, actually not. I’m a selfish person. I give up everything for my life, to teach yoga, save people’s lives, to change people’s lives. Why? Because that’s the only way I can feed my spiritual need. That’s my spiritual practice. I tried everything else, but at the end of the day, I get nothing, dry.

But when some person comes in a wheelchair to my class, after one month she walks out, smiling face, brings me a shirt, gives me a cheesecake, says “I never thought I would live to do it again in my life,” a big, smiling face, that feeds my spiritual activity, my happiness, my satisfaction of living. That keeps going, after all these years, nothing in the world can stop me. So, if I’m happy, I can make more people like you happy.

I think that’s it.

Bikram feeds on making other people happy.

It certainly felt like he was feeding on the energy of the audience on Sunday night. He loved being up there speaking, sharing his stories and his wisdom, inspiring people to do more yoga.

Maybe that’s why he doesn’t need to sleep to refuel, or eat to refuel.

Presence or no presence, maybe Bikram is just some kind of alien that feeds on making people happy.

Seems to be working, for both him, and the millions of people who’ve tried Bikram Yoga.

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Inside a 40-Day Hot Yoga Challenge – will Hazel go the distance?

Guest Author — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:38:04 +0000

Hazel signs up for Hot Yoga's 40 Day Challenge Photo by Irene Siu

by guest author & freelance writer Hazel Slade

In my early twenties, the only place you would have found me sweating profusely in a room full of people while twisting my body into unusual positions followed by swigging back a green coloured liquid, would have been in a club on a Saturday night.

But now, just weeks away from my 31st birthday, I find myself doing exactly this…. but, this time around, for an entirely different reason.

On Monday, January 23, I will tackle my post-Christmas slump by launching myself into a 40 day Hot Yoga and Green Juice challenge at Hot Yoga Wellington.

This may sound like a massive feat. And it is, I am not denying that. But the concept is simple.

For almost six weeks I will aim to attend 30 yoga classes – that’s an average of five a week – at the Hot Yoga studio.

Opened by husband and wife instructors Claire Szabo-Cassella and Lou Cassella three years ago, the Wellington studio is one of three hot yoga studios created by the pair in a bid to bring this style of yoga practice to New Zealand.

Now I am not new to yoga. I fell in love with it a few years ago. However, when I proudly told Claire I was no newbie, she kindly informed me that you are actually considered a beginner in Yoga for the first 20 years of your practice.

Wow… and there was me thinking I was quite advanced.

For the past few years I have practiced Vinyasa Flow. Keen to try new things, I dabbled in the sweltering practice of Bikram Yoga for a few months while living in London, but found the rigidity of it wasn’t for me. What I did enjoy was the heat.

So imagine my joy when I moved across the pond to ‘Welly’ a couple of months ago and found a hot yoga studio right in the heart of the city. Little did I know within weeks of arriving I would be signed up to spend a month-and-a-half in this warm hearted studio.

When undertaking the 40 day challenge was first suggested to me, I was apprehensive. Petrified even! As much as I love yoga, committing to practising five times a week overwhelmed me. How would my body and mind cope with such a huge change in lifestyle? And would I come out the other end never wanting to practice again?

But a chat with Claire and a sample class at the studio – where I got to try all three types of yoga they offer in one hit – reassured me.

This was going to be an adventure into my mind, body and soul. And, luckily for me, Claire and Lou would be right by my side to guide me through.

For 40 days, I will take my pick of Power Vinyasa, Yin and Hot Yoga classes, ranging from 60 to 90 minutes long, in temperatures up to 38 degrees Celsius.

But the fun doesn’t end there.

I also have the chance to take part in a plethora of workshops and treatments offered alongside the challenge, in a bid to further enhance my experience.

Plus, as some of you may remember at the beginning I said this was a Yoga AND Green Smoothie Challenge. As if the classes, workshops and treatment weren’t enough goodness for my little body, I will also be consuming a delicious green smoothie after every practice to give me a boost from the inside out.

Produced by fellow yogi and Wellington-based businesswoman Janelle Clarke’s company Green Juice Inc, the bursts of vitamin goodness is supposed to be the perfect complement to the regular yoga classes. Before Janelle provided them, Claire used to recommend students make their own smoothie at home during the challenge. But with my blending skills, which make fruits look more like mush than fresh, I am glad Janelle is handling this part for me.

I have to admit, while I am expecting a mixture of pain and pleasure from the yoga, I am anticipating just pleasure and more pleasure from the smoothies.

The smoothies are made up of a mixture of leafy greens and seasonal fruit – and each day is a like a lucky dip, as you don’t know what you are going to get.

“As your body gets used to it, you begin to need more of the greens and less of the fruit,” Janelle explains. And apart from my own delight, the physical benefits of swallowing this wonderful liquid include weight loss, improved digestion and better concentration. My fingers are crossed it does what it says on the box.

I should probably finish off by explaining what I would like to see come out of this challenge -my personal goals – which Claire says are vital to this undertaking.

As a writer I spend an unimaginably large amount of time hunched up over a computer. On top of that my life has always consisted of deadline, after deadline, after deadline. And my body and spirit have often been neglected in place of my work life.

When I told Claire that I would have to fit the yoga around my working day, she looked very amused.

“It’s funny,” the former corporate dog smiled, “I fit my day around my yoga.”

And that sentence pretty much sums up my goal.

I would like to share Claire’s much more balanced outlook on life. To learn more about my body, relax and become energised. Oh and a flat tummy wouldn’t go amiss either.

So, I am ready to take the plunge into the hot yoga and smoothie world. And over the next few weeks, I’ll regularly be sharing my adventures with the Yoga Lunchbox. Stay tuned to see where I resurface.

Hazel Slade

More on Hazel Slade:

Hazel is a freelance writer who believes that the written word has the power to move mountains.

Growing up in England, Hazel spent many years working as a writer and journalist, before bringing her love for the written word to New Zealand.

Hazel discovered a love for all things Yogi almost five years ago while living in London, but she has never undergone such an immense undertaking as the 40-day challenge.

She’s hoping to combine her passion of yoga and writing for a truly enriching experience for both herself and her readers.

An interview with senior Iyengar teacher Carrie Owerko

Kara-Leah Grant — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 01:26:41 +0000

Carrie

American Senior Iyengar teacher Carrie Owerko is hosting a ten-day yoga retreat called Uncovering Roots in Infinite Space here in New Zealand from Friday, February 24, 2012 to Sunday, March 04, 2012.

YLB spoke to Carrie to find out more about her journey into yoga, and the retreat. See the end of the interview for booking details, and a special discount for YLB readers.

1. How did you get into Yoga?

I first began doing yoga when I was working for a movement theatre company in NYC.

My director had given me a book about theatre and dance in India. This was after we had seen an amazing performance of Ariane Minouchkines’ Les Atridesat The Brooklyn Academy of Music, where the greek chorus was comprised of dancers using movements based on Indian Kathakali. I was mesmerized.

And this, along with an interest that had been sparked by Gerzy Grotowski’s descriptions of how he utilized yoga to train his theatre company ignited my initial interest.

I went on to study movement in depth and became a Laban Movement Analyst, but my personal yoga practice (which I had developed at that time) continued to be the place where I came home to myself; therefore, I decided to dedicate myself to the practice wholeheartedly.

2. When did you know it was going to be a life-long exploration?

I have always had a strong practice samskara (to use yoga language), or an strong inclination to migrate toward disciplines requiring daily practice.

For as long as I can remember I have found solice in time alone, with an art (physical or otherwise) and the participation my own body/mind. I was attracted to the idea of practice even as a child. So the discipline of yoga addressed this inclination and gave a form to what had been happening, in some small but growing way, already.

3. Why Iyengar? And what’s it been like studying with Iyengar and his family over the years?

I came upon Iyengar Yoga after I had been studying some other styles of yoga for some time. I was (at first) put off by all the props. And, as much as possible, I still like to practice with minimal props. But I really loved how the Iyengar teachers were such strong task masters. They swept in, gave me a belt, aligned my body, quieted my mind, imparting knowledge and teaching me a form—an approach that, ultimately, has given me freedom.

When in Pune, India, I have studied primarily with BKS Iyengar’s daughter, Geeta, and son, Prasahant.

Geetaji is brilliant. She has a way of unpacking the practice so that everyone, absolutely everyone, is awakened. She requires your attention and efforts 100% of the time. She requires that you constantly question yourself and your actions, and that you practice to your fullest potential.

Prashant, however, is a bit of a rebel. He has his own unique line of questioning, and imparting knowledge when teaching asana and pranayama. But, as with his sister Geeta, it is about always learning how to wake up and be truly present.

4. Is there a right way to do a yoga pose, and if there is, how do we know what that way is?

I do not feel that there is a right way to do a yoga pose.

What we do develope is viveka, or discriminative discernment. We increase our capacity for awareness.

One of my favorite anatomy/dance teachers, Irene Dowd, once said that,

“There is no right image, right way or even right movement. There is only a way of functioning that is both unifying and expansive for you at this moment. Furthermore, this way of functioning will change continuously throughout life. Plasticity of mind is what makes movement possible at all.”

Plasiticity of mind is really a key concept here, and in yoga practice in general. We can so easily become stuck, stagnate, and set in our ways. To me yoga is about cultivating a radical presence, and a radical opening of the heart and mind.

5. You mentioned in your YogaDork interview that you’d like to see Donald Trump practicing yoga. Why is that?

In an interview that I did recently for The Yoga Dork, I was asked about which celebrity figure would I like to see practicing yoga.

I said Donald Trump because I think that he (and all of us, actually) might benefit from being less reactive and overly sensitive to the stuff of life and the comments of others.

Yoga helps us learn to pause, breath, and be less reactive. We also learn to cultivate that aspect of ourselves which is similar to the desciption of the Lotus flower in the Bhagavad Gita. The lotus lives its life in the water and yet the drops of water roll off its leaves without ever really wetting them. I find this metaphor (and many of the metaphors expressed in The Bhagavad Gita) very poetic and inspiring.

6. I loved your article Reflections Taking Support and Sharing the Dance. You take a concept from the practice of asana and apply it to life, and relationships in particular. This seems to be a skillful part of truly teaching yoga. Is it something that you were “taught” by your own teachers, or something that’s evolved out of your own practice?

I have found that my asana practice teaches me how to be in relationship with the different aspects of myself. It also helps me in my relationships with other beings. It is about communion. And I have learned many valuable lessons in my asana, pranayama, and meditation practices that have directly and profoundly affected my relationships off the mat or the cushion. And vice versa.

Yoga has helped to integrate what I percieve to be the different aspects of myself into an integrated whole. I have learned this from my teachers, but I feel like yoga teaches yoga, and the practice itself is the best teacher.

7. What inspired you to host a ten day retreat in New Zealand, and what’s the intention behind the retreat?

When I travel to teach and share this subject that I love, I am always a bit nervous, because I am going some place new, meeting new people, getting out of my comfort zone, and encountering the unfamiliar. I think of this as a good thing.

I enjoy meeting people from diffent regions who are also engaged in this process of inquiry. I like learning about how they may be thinking about things, or experiencing things, and exploring the subject.

At the core there is a shared common experience, but there are so many ways each of us can be asleep in our lives, in our practices, and in our relationships. And we learn about ourselves when in relationship with others. And yoga is about about waking up and being present.

One need not travel to distant lands to engage in this process of awakening, but it is a fun way to do so. And it is good to get out of one’s comfort zone and familiar surroundings time and again. It can ignite certain aspects of the learning process.

I have always wanted to visit New Zealand.

The fact that it is, literally, on the other side of the world, and is filled with some of the most spectacular scenery to be found anywhere on the planet is more than enough reason. But the folks that I have meet from both Australia and New Zealand are some of the warmest and friendliest people I have ever meet, especially when studying in Pune where you can meet people from all over the world.

My intention in doing this ten-day retreat is for those of us participating to have an opportunity to go deeply into our practices, to dive deeply into the inquiry, into ourselves, and to begin to uncover a little of what is soft and true and sits at in the heart of us, at the very core of our being. And to have an opportunity to traverse this inner landscape, but also to traverse some beautiful outer landscapes. And learn from each other and with each other. But most importantly, to celebrate and integrate our practices in this vast land of relationship.

We are offering NZers a 1-off special price of USD 3000 for two people to attend at Awaroa. It’s a substantial discount from the published prices ($NZ 1890 for four nights at 4-star Awaroa Lodge, 8 classes with Carrie, all meals and return transfers from Nelson.)

It will be an intimate affair and the chance for yogis of any discipline to deepen their practice and spend some quality time with Carrie and a wonderful group of students who are coming from around the world. Register here, and enter the code LUNCHBOXYOGA to claim your discount.

More on Carrie:

Carrie Owerko has been practicing yoga for many years and is a core faculty member of the Iyengar Yoga Institute of NY. She holds a Senior Intermediate I teaching credential and serves as an assessor for the Iyengar National Association.

She travels regularly to India to study with the Iyengar family and has had the honor of co-choreographing and performing in “Live-Light on Life,” a tribute to the life and works of B.K.S. Iyengar at New York City Center during his 2005 National Book Tour.

Before devoting herself to the art and science of yoga, Carrie earned a BFA in Dance and Theater from Loretto Heights College and became a Certified Movement Analyst from the Laban Institute. She has spent years dancing, performing and exploring movement for communication and expression.

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Why ‘letting go’ and ‘detachment’ can be pitfalls on the spiritual path

Peter Fernando — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:31:21 +0000

Mother and child

by regular columnist Peter Fernando, The Meditation Guy

I received this honest and moving question a few weeks back:

If you have never bonded with your mother and so have never experienced secure attachment in a primary relationship, how can you work with non-attachment? And letting go? When you have never really experienced having anything to hold onto?

The first thing I should say is this: I am no expert in this field, so please don’t take my word as gospel. I can only reflect from my own limited experience. I may be wrong in what I share.

However this question, I am sure, echoes similar questions that many of us practicing in the West can have. Not many of us (if any) come to practice from a place of psychological health and wholeness. Many of us have come from dysfunctional families, suffered trauma, or have internalized the sense of alienation and emotional numbness that our culture can easily engender.

So if we pick up teachings on ‘letting go’ without being aware of the place that we’re coming from, we can become even more dissociated than before.

I say this from experience.

I went through a stage (read: phase) in my own practice where I decided to ‘really let go of everything’.

I was going to do it. Break though. Finish the job. And other such ego-based determinations… There was a naivety in this, and an honesty of intent, but what I didn’t see was that I was relating to myself out of attachment to some pretty hefty ideas in the first place.

Within the process of ‘trying to let go’, I didn’t notice that I had my teeth firmly stuck into a whole bunch of ‘shoulds’.

Ideas like, ‘I should be above this stuff’. And ‘I am wrong for having all these messy feelings’. In service to those commandments the mind, or the heart, can easily try to get into a space where our human-ness is somehow neutralized, or where we are ‘empty’. If we don’t have a spiritual community around us to reflect the oddness that ensues, we may even equate this state with ‘non-attachment’.

I did, stubbornly, for some time, until my teachers and peers started to hint that ‘uh-hum, you may have lost the plot, my friend…’

In many ways the state I had begun to cling to resembled what is known as ‘dissociation’ in psychological terms. This recognition, as it dawned, was actually very good news.

Why? Because it allowed me to bring a sorely missed feeling of compassion into the process. It allowed me to start where I was, rather than trying to overshoot myself in order to get into some idealized state that I imagined non-attachment to be. And to be honest, we know in our heart of hearts that it’s not it. Because it feels barren and lifeless anyway!

On the other hand, as I reflected on those around me, I began to notice that all of my teachers were simultaneously care-free and deeply human at the same time. In their presence I got the sense that their letting go, their emptiness even, had not come about through some kind of willful repression, or through entering into a kind of altered state of reality – but rather, sometimes eye-openingly so, through a descent into their own raw, vulnerable humanity from a place of wisdom, patience, and deep compassion.

Part of this seems to require a recognition of what we, as unique personalities, with unique kinds of conditioning, need in order to unfold and grow. It has become an accepted reality in the West, since the early blossoming of interest in meditation in the 1970s, that you have to have a healthy sense of self in order to begin to let it go. Conceptually that may seem like a paradox, but when we enter into practice in a sincere way, it makes perfect sense.

The sense of self, in this example, is more than an idea – it is a capacity to be present with experience without folding into reactivity, closing down into self-aversion, or blocking out experiences through fear or hate. Some of these tendencies kick in when we are very young, and if they are particularly strong, they require a great sensitivity and patience to begin to unfold in awareness.

Trying to let go of them, or even to ‘stop being so silly’ never works. In a way we have to be willing to be fully ourselves in order to taste a quality in the heart which is more transpersonal, or universal.

Since my forays into the realm of dissociation-disguised-as-non-attachment I have found that one of the most significant forces in the mind to begin to let go of is the attachment to fixed ideals of ‘letting go’! In fact, perhaps the most important letting go for many of us is the ability to (wisely and safely) let go into the rawness of our selves, including the pain, the loss, the broken-ness and the imperfection that we find there.

Of course, this doesn’t mean amplifying these forces, or giving up the aspiration for healing, growth and ultimately, Awakening. To me it’s about feeling into that Middle Way, where our aspiration manifests as a complete willingness to feel who and how we are, and attend to what we find in the way that it most needs. Uniquely, personally, free from the tyranny of comparisons and judgments.

One of my teachers, Ajahn Sucitto, describes this as the kind of organic growth that happens to plants. Rather than a seed trying to force itself to become a tree, it gradually unfolds, allowing itself to be nourished by the sun, the rain, the earth – and the transformation happens on its own.

So, for the courageous person who asked the question above, this may mean taking it slow, finding ways of healing the absence, or the void that has been left over from those formative experiences in childhood. We can never put a timeframe to it – it happens as it needs to. The one thing I would encourage you to keep in mind is to not believe the feelings of being ‘wrong’ or that you are ‘failing’ for being who you are. No one is judging your practice. You have full permission to do the work as you need to – in your own way, and in your own time.

Within that attitude, in my opinion, is the essence of letting go itself.

Want to ask The Meditation Guy a question? Here’s where:

This is your chance to pick the brain of a passionate mediator and former monk, The Yoga Lunchbox's very own Meditation Guy, Peter Fernando. Ask away!
Peter will publish answers to the questions submitted every 4 to 6 weeks in his regular column.

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The Yoga of Business: Goals, Clarity, Values & Commitment, Part 4

Guest Author — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 19:31:10 +0000

Greeting students at the front desk of Healium, a holistic health centre and yoga studio on Lambton Quay

by guest author Jenifer Parker, business owner of Healium, Wellington

Consistency Makes It Happen

Once you have all of these elements coming together — a specific, defined goal; clarity around the values on which the business is formed; and a commitment to that goal as a business — then the only thing that prevents a person from becoming successful is a lack of consistency.

I have a friend who set up a yoga studio, hiring other teachers and running a beautiful little business.

Things rolled along nicely for about six months.

Then, out of the blue, something got into her head. She fired everyone. She took over all the classes herself. She informed the students that she’s moving to Paris or Istanbul or Johannesburg. She then told them that she’s only taking a six-month vacation there. She then tells them that it will only be over Christmas break.

She then redesigned her web site. She redesigned her class schedule. She rehired the teachers. She started her studio “from scratch” in the new year.

The first time this happened (in my experience) about half of the students returned. It wasn’t a big studio, so this wasn’t a sustainable number. But, over time, the numbers grew again.

Six months later, my friend fired everyone for no reason, took over the classes herself, informed the students that she’s moving to Paris/Istanbul/Johannesburg, but only for six months or just for a few weeks. She redesigned her web site. She redesigned her class schedule. She tried to rehire teachers. She started from “scratch” in the summer, which isn’t an easy time to start because people go on holiday to Paris or Istanbul (well, mostly the Jersey Shore).

Anyway, things finally turned over and got close to sustainability about six months later — when she repeated the process.

The only thing she’s consistent in is her six-month freak-outs.

And to be sure, it was the fifth or sixth of these that finally led to the demise of all yoga studio incarnations run by her. She had run out of money from her divorce and her trust fund and only had her retirement left, so she retired. To the Bahamas. Where she sometimes leads yoga retreats.

She is one of the loveliest people I know. She is smart, and she is a great yoga teacher. But from the outside, to a client, well. . . just inconsistent, right?

And lots of clients — as more studios around her cropped up — just started going to those other studios. Those places were more reliable, more stable, and more consistent. And ultimately more successful.

So, consistency creates the success. Consistently minding the business. Consistently acting in the best interests of the clients. Consistently clarifying and acting on your values. Consistently executing on your business plan. Consistently building your goals.

—–

Make no mistake, there is no direct guarantee. But if you apply these basic business principles, and approach your teaching as a business — whether it’s a leading non-profit class at a senior citizen center or running a large yoga studio with many classes and teachers — you are more likely to succeed at your goal while also fully living your values through that business.

Everything is possible with goals, clarity, values and commitment, when you apply them with consistency.

Jenifer Parker

Jenifer M Parker is the owner/director of Healium, a holistic health collective, as well as a yoga teacher, Thai yoga massage practitioner, and avid meditator.

She enjoys the mindfulness practice that parenting her son Hawk brings, as well as sharing yoga and quiet meditation practices with him.

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From Rock ‘n Roll to mind control, a tale of meditation sound creation

Guest Author — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 19:31:47 +0000

Dave Marrett - Binaural beat technology CD creator

by guest author Jen Hall, of Venture Beyond

Ever wondered who the musicians are behind those soothing and relaxing Healing Sounds CDs?

Here’s the tale of one such musician, a Kiwi boy no less, born and bred in Wellington, one Dave Marrett.

Back in 1975, Dave boarded the ‘Oriana’ and set sail for Sydney, chasing a dream ofcombing his natural flair for electronics with his love of music.

He’d already done the hard yards, spending years cycling 10km to violin lessons in Upper Hutt. All that pedal power eventually paid off when Dave was invited to play electric violin in Sydney band ‘Tolepuddle’.

A few heady years of playing to packed audiences all around Australia followed. Dave lived his rock ‘n roll dream, before taking a more stable role at EMI, where he produced hit records, in both Australia and back in his native New Zealand.

Dave’s the man behind Coconut Rough’s ‘Sierra Leonie’ or ‘Victoria’ by the Dance Exponents – he created these and other popular New Zealand top selling records in the 1980s.

But still, Dave had a hankering for more, so he combined his love and interest of meditation with his skill and talent for music and engineering.

His latest production to New Zealand audiences is more about positive ‘mind control’ than the often soulless world of rock ‘n roll. Unlike other musical productions or regular meditation CDs, the technology in healingsounds reaches beyond the conscious mind to the sub-conscious, affecting positive changes at all levels.

Dave meticulously recorded every sound on the CD in Sydney’s national parks. Using his perfect pitch, he carefully tested a set of hand-made, finely-tuned Oriental template chimes before including them on the CD. Together with the sounds of natural waterfalls and streams, it makes for an exquisite musical production.

However, the real magic of this CD lies in the binaural beat technology encoded in both its base and sound tracks.

Binaural beat technology has been reviewed in many scientific studies and shows exciting possibilities in the areas of meditation, creativity, enhanced learning, pain management, and concentration.

Studies show that the technology allows the brain to ‘lock onto’ a frequency and travel effortlessly through the states of beta, alpha, theta and down on into the deepest state of delta meditation. This means it has many useful applications in everyday life. Some people use it to enhance their meditation experience; others to help them focus better at work.

Dave has received testimonials from all over the world claiming the CD has helped with anything from depression to tinnitus to enhanced learning.

For example, Lucilla Hammond, a yoga teacher in Melbourne, wrote in to say:

“What a wonderful experience using healingsounds has been! I loved the mix of bells & sounds of nature put together in this way. It seems to take you on a journey, gently lifting you up & bringing you back down, with the rhythm of your own meditation.

After every session I’ve had with healingsounds I’ve come out more relaxed & joyful & this stayed with me throughout the day. After using it regularly I noticed I began to feel more at ease with myself, I reacted less to things & laughed more.”

It’s not quite the rock ‘n roll lifestyle that Dave had in mind when he left Wellington for Sydney all those years ago, but he does feel like he’s finally found a niche that perfectly ties in both his interests, and his skills and talents.

If you want to enjoy this unique production, from one of New Zealand’s finest music producers, you can purchase it in either CD or MP3 download from Venture Beyond.

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