I’ve never been one to “give up” something for Lent (it wasn’t something I was raised to do), but I like the idea of having a specific time of year devoted to contemplation and self-improvement. In that spirit, I intend to start a “40-Day” Yoga Challenge, beginning on Ash Wednesday (Feb 22) and ending on the Saturday (April 7) before Easter. If you count the days between, you’ll notice that the period is actually 47 days. For standard Lenten practice, Sundays are excepted, and there are a couple of other days that are exempt as well (we don’t need to get too worried about the details here, that’s not the point), so that’s where the “40 Days of Lent” number comes from.

Ashtanga yogis take Saturday off from practice (and full and new moon days as well). It’s usually considered a good idea to have a rest day each week from vigorous exercise. And if you choose to join me, you can work this however you see fit. But it takes 21 days to build a new habit, and that’s what I’m looking for. I want my default on any given day to be practice. My goal is just to get on my mat every day for at least 10 minutes. I plan to practice longer most days, but at least 10 minutes. But just in case we miss a day here or there (nobody’s perfect), those extra 7 days give us some wiggle-room.

Just to make things more interesting, I’m also going to meditate for at least 10 minutes each day as well. And I’ll be writing about the process. It might not be very poetic. I’m giving myself permission to keep it simple.

If you’re interested in joining me, here are some ideas to make it simpler:

Add some new classes to your schedule. Try a new teacher or two. Check the schedules of some of the Ys you don’t go to as often. Or try one of our local yoga studios. They often have introductory deals for new students. Try a new style.

No time to go to class? No problem! Just roll out your mat at home, pick some yoga poses you like, and do them. The transitions don’t have to be pretty. It’s just you! Hold each pose for a few breaths. I saw a recommendation of a “10 for 10” practice – pick 10 poses and hold each for 10 breaths. Sounds simple, but challenging.

Do some sun salutations, followed by the idea above.

Check out YogaGlo.com for some free short introductory classes, pay for individual classes, or subscribe for unlimited downloads. Check out classes by my teacher, Christina Sell, and her friends & business partners Noah Maze’ and Darren Rhodes. Elena Brower is also highly recommended.

Download Darren Rhodes’ iPhone app, YogaHour and follow along.

Download the iPhone app called Yoga Timer. Set it for one minute per pose.

Sign up for Amy Ippoliti’s 30-Day Yoga Challenge. This month, it’s Utkatasana (Chair Pose) for 1 minute every day. or working up to 1 minute. https://www.facebook.com/groups/191028581542/

New to meditation? Join Deepak Chopra’s 21-Day Meditation Challenge (starting Monday, Feb 20, but you can join later and catch up) http://www.chopracentermeditation.com/bestsellers/MEDITATION_WINTER_2012/register.asp

Read Sally Kempton’s book Meditation for the Love of It, or enjoy her 2 CD set “Beginning Meditation”.

Let me know if you’re joining me on this journey. Enjoy yourself. Get stronger, fitter, more flexible, and more grounded. Please practice.

Om Shanti – Lisa

Sorry to have to cancel on you at the last minute, but I have the flu (getting better but still feverish) and I have been unable to find a sub for this class. ELY had no luck either.

Hope you all have a wonderful week. Stay healthy and strong. Don’t neglect your rest (which is usually what does me in)!

Om Shanti – Lisa

P.S. If you know anyone who has recently started coming to this class (w/i the past 2 months or so) please let them know, as they might not be on my email list.

Sorry for the late notice, but if any of you will be in town for Thanksgiving, and don’t have other plans, please join David, me, and a few friends for a vegan Thanksgiving spread at our home just outside Decatur. We’ll be serving drinks and snacks around 3, and dinner about 4 p.m. Please RSVP either to my email (ltb1014 at gmail dot com) or phone 404-402-9562 for the address and directions and so I’ll know how many pumpkins to stuff & how many pies to make.

Tonight (Tuesday, 11/24), I’ll be teaching our regular Flow Yoga class from 6:30 – 8 p.m. at the East Lake Y in Meeting Room #3 (Community Room) upstairs. This is a fairly sweaty practice, so come get a head start on your calorie burn for the week.

The YMCA will be closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving, but it will be open the rest of the week for regular hours. I’ll be teaching Relaxation Yoga on Friday night at the East Lake Y in Meeting Room #3 (Community Room) upstairs from 7 – 8:25 p.m. This is a great class through which to introduce family members and others who have heard that you do yoga, but have never tried it themselves. Feel free to bring new folks – we’ll have a few spare mats as usual, and we’ll be taking it easy.

News

Tonight (Friday, Oct 23), Jean will teach Relaxation Yoga at the East Lake YMCA (7 – 8:25 p.m.). The class is designed to be a nice oasis at the end of the week for everyone – including parents. That’s why we end it a few minutes before 8:30, to allow parents to pick their kids up from the Children’s Fun Center. Who needs relaxation more than parents?? Hope you’ll come out and enjoy the class.

I’ll be teaching Relaxation Yoga on Oct 30. David and I are going to a “Glam Bake” afterwards, so don’t be surprised if you see me (or him!) with a little glitter eyeliner on.

I’ll be teaching my regular lineup of classes next week & for the month of November –
all classes are at the East Lake YMCA:
Monday Morning Flow Yoga, 9:15 – 10:30 a.m., Heritage Room
Tuesday Night Flow Yoga, 6:30 – 8 p.m., Meeting Room #3 (Community Room)
Friday Night Relaxation Yoga, 7 – 8:25 p.m., Meeting Room #3 (Community Room)
(note: Jean subs Relaxation Yoga Nov 20.)

I’ll also be subbing for Jean at the Decatur-Dekalb Y on the following dates:
Wednesday, November 4, 10:30 – 11:30 a.m.
Monday, November 9, 8 – 9 p.m.

I don’t usually mention non-YMCA classes, but I’ve been studying Anusara Yoga with Gina Minyard at Atlanta Yoga for several months now. It’s an amazing refinement of traditional hatha yoga, and I recommend it highly. Gina is our only certified Anusara teacher in Atlanta, so check out her classes. More info here.

and more about Anusara yoga here.

Bit & Pieces

Now for all of you who say “I can’t do (insert your least favorite pose here), I’m too old”, check out this 83-year-old Australian woman who is still practicing and teaching yoga – as many as 11 classes per week! Seeing her in peacock pose makes me think, “Hmmm….maybe by the time I’m 70, I’ll have that pose licked.” I wonder if her rose-pink jumpsuit helps? (BTW, I don’t recommend practicing in pantyhose. I think the wardrobe person really goofed.)

If you’ve wondered about the difference between a yogi and just someone who “does” yoga, this lighthearted animation, Yogin, might answer that question for you. Remember, if it feels like you’re working too hard, you’re probably working too hard!

And for something truly silly, check out Elvis, singing “Yoga Is as Yoga Does” in his film “Easy Come, Easy Go”. I’m pretty sure that the person who wrote this had never been to a yoga class in his life. It’s a good laugh, though. For this and more, check out YogaDork .

Finally – Thanks to Jean for subbing Tuesday night this week. David and I went to see Leonard Cohen at the Fabulous Fox. It was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen in my life. Mr. Cohen is 75 years old and has been performing for almost 50 years. He is a poet and songwriter and social commentator. His voice has improved over the decades, but what made the show so special was not simply his talent, but his respect for the (prodigious) talents of his fellow musicians. He gave them each their time to shine and shine they did! Mr. Cohen recently spent 5 years in a Zen Buddhist monastery, and I can’t help but think that those years of meditation have helped to temper him into the gracious soul we saw and heard on Tuesday night.

Remember to go out when possible and support your local musicians and music venues. Music is another food for the soul.

****************************
Massage appointments are available. I offer Clinical Therapeutic Massage (Neuromuscular Therapy – NMT) and Relaxation (Swedish) massage. I offer discounts to my students! Email me at ifithurts (at) gmail (dot) com .

Thanks for reading all the way to the end, y’all.
Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti! Lisa

Lisa T. Bennett, LNMT, RYT
ltb1014@gmail.com
Friend me on Facebook!
Follow me on Twitter (ltb1014)
My vegan cooking blog is at organicgoddess.wordpress.com

There is a lot of yoga stuff going on in the ATL over the next couple of weeks.

I’m subbing Easy Yoga at ELY, Wed., 2/11 from 5:30 – 6:30

This Saturday (Valentine’s Day – Awww), from 3-5 p.m. – there is a Partner’s Yoga class at Jai Shanti Yoga. It looks like fun and David and I are gonna be there. You can go alone or bring a partner. Here’s the link for more info, and a time-lapse video of what you can expect the class to be like:

http://www.jaishantiyoga.com/partneryoga

Next Tuesday night, Feb 17, Angie S. will be subbing for the Flow Yoga class at ELY while David and I go to see Krishna Das at the Variety Playhouse. This event is sponsored by Jai Shanti Yoga, and starts at 8 p.m. Let me know if you’d like to meet up before the show so we can sit and chant together!

I went to see Krishna Das last year during his first visit to Atlanta and it was a great show. He performs some songs, but most of the evening is a chant-along in the kirtan, call-and-response style. No experience necessary. He’s also a funny story teller.

On Wednesday, Feb 18, 6 p.m. Krishna Das will be holding a kirtan workshop for a smaller group at the First Existentialist Church. To learn more about either the kirtan or the workshop, check out the Jai Shanti webpage at:

http://www.jaishantiyoga.com/krishnadas

New Teacher at ELY!
Angie S. has been teaching at the Decatur-Dekalb Y (DDY) for awhile now, and she’s recently joined our teaching staff at ELY. She is teaching the Monday night Power Yoga class. Check it out –

Monday Night Power Yoga, 7-8 p.m, Meeting Room #3 (Community Room)

She will also be sharing the Friday night Relaxation Yoga class with me starting Feb 27.

My February Schedule at East Lake YMCA
Monday Morning Flow Yoga, 9:15 – 10:30 a.m., Heritage Room
Tuesday Night Flow Yoga, 6:30 – 8 p.m., Meeting Room #3 (Community Room)
Friday Night Relaxation Yoga, 7 – 8:25 p.m., Meeting Room #3 (Community Room) – I’ll be working on making this class more restorative and contemplative. Check it out! Jean will sub Feb 20, and Angie will teach Feb 27. We will alternate Fridays after that.

New Year, New Yogis – Time to Be Reminded of our Yoga Basics

Here are a few basics about yoga. These are things I might say at the beginning of class, but some of you are often late (not to worry – I understand scheduling issues), or you might leave early (ditto), so…here is a brief list of things to keep in mind to make your practice the best it can be.

These first two items are the most important – the others are given in no particular order.

1. Keep in mind the essence of yoga: letting go of expectations, letting go of judgments, letting go of competition (even competition with yourself). Also, staying grounded and present in the moment by focusing on the breath. If the breath becomes ragged or uneven, it’s a sign that you’re working too hard and need to back off from the posture.

2. Everything we do in class should feel good. You should feel better after class than you did before class. If this is not the case, please remember to pay attention to what YOUR BODY is telling you. We’re never forcing anything or straining. I am a guide who is here to help you practice safely, but I can’t feel what your knee or hip or back or neck is telling you, so please modify poses to make them work for you. You never need to ask permission to rest. If you want to come to class and spend the entire time in child’s pose because that’s what your body needs that day, that is yoga.

3. Practice on a(n almost) empty stomach. It’s good to wait at least 2 hours after a full meal (3-4 hours might be better), and at least 1 hour after a light snack before practicing. If you leave work and come straight to class and simply must eat something to avoid the low blood sugar shakes, try a small piece of fruit or a small energy bar — something light and easy to digest.

4. Drink water — plenty of water. Expert opinions vary on just how much that should be. One simple rule of thumb is that you should take your weight, divide that in half, and drink that number of OUNCES of liquid per day. So, for example, if you weight 150 lbs, that would be 75 ounces, or between 9 and 10 (8 oz) cups of liquid per day. New research shows that caffeinated drinks aren’t nearly as diuretic as previously thought, so unless you’re drinking more than four cups of coffee or 8 cups of tea per day, it counts toward your fluid intake. Fruit and vegetable juices do, too, but keep in mind that fruit juices are full of sugar and lack the fiber and many of the phytonutrients that make fruit such a great snack.

5. Don’t try to drink all of your water just before class. I think the reason for this is self-explanatory. All that fluid sloshing around and wending its way south can make for a very uncomfortable practice.

6. Do, however, bring a water bottle with you to yoga, especially for flow/vinyasa classes. We get sweaty and need to replace those fluids (or at least wash the salt off our lips!).

5. If you arrive late to class: Please enter quietly. If we are still in the warm-up portion of class, join in right where we are. If we’ve moved on past sun salutations, you will want to do some warm-ups to get your muscles ready to stretch. Moonflowers, sunflowers, chair flow – any of those will warm the body quickly as long as you’re matching breath with movement.

6. We breathe in and out through the nose in yoga to build and maintain heat in the body. If you need to feel how much heat you lose by breathing out of your mouth, place your hand in front of your mouth and breathe out, as if fogging a window. Feel all that heat and moisture? Much better to keep that inside, warming you and building prana, or energy.

7. If your nose is chronically stuffy, you might want to try a neti pot to wash the dust and pollen out once or twice a day. It’s an old yogic method of body purification that has many modern proponents. Many people I know find this to be a life-changing habit. Neti pots can be purchased at most natural foods stores and online.

8. If you need to leave a yoga class early, keep that in mind. About ten minutes before you need to leave, stop and put yourself into corpse pose (savansana, pronounced “shah vaah sah nah”). This is the most important pose we do in class. This resting period allows the body to take the prana, or energy, that we’ve built up in class and use it to repair tissues in the body, as well as to calm the mind.

9. A special note to the Type A student (you know who you are!): If you are leaving class before the relaxation period so you can get 10 extra minutes on the treadmill or exercise bike, you are missing one of the biggest benefits (and pretty much the whole point) of yoga. The 2nd Yoga Sutra says “Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind.” The hatha (or physical) practice is designed to still the mind so it can work more efficiently and comfortably. That’s the REAL yoga, which happens off the mat.

When I open my eyes and look at the wide world, I become great; when I close my eyes and look within, I become greater still.
— Hazrat Inayat Khan

Besides, if you leave my class early, you miss out on the end of class goodies – the lavender temple massages and chimes and chanting.

10. If I correct your posture, or suggest a modification, it is not because I am the Yoga Police or that you are doing the posture “wrong”. It is not because it should look “prettier”.

It is because you are either doing something potentially unsafe (in the long run) or because you are not getting the most benefit possible from a posture. For example, knees out over toes in squatting poses or lunges is unsafe for the knee. Pushing up into High Cobra (knees on the floor) instead of Upward Facing Dog (with knees and thighs off the floor) is too hard on the average person’s back. Twisting the top hip forward in triangle so that you can reach the floor won’t hurt you, but you won’t achieve the benefits of the posture – strengthening the upper body and stretching the side.

I’ll be adding to and revising this list and sending it out every so often, so if you have any questions, clarifications, or suggestions for other “yoga basics”, let me know.

****************************
Clinical Massage appointments are available. I offer discounts to my students! Email me at ifithurts (at) gmail (dot) com .

Thanks for reading all the way to the end, y’all.
Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti! Lisa

Lisa T. Bennett, LNMT, RYT
ltb1014@gmail.com
Friend me on Facebook!
Follow me on Twitter (ltb1014)
My vegan cooking blog is at organicgoddess.wordpress.com

Beginner’s Workshop
I’m sure that many of you know folks who are interested in or curious about yoga, but are far too shy to come to an ongoing yoga class for the first time – one where they might be the only “newbie”. Maybe they’re afraid that they won’t be able to “make those shapes” with their bodies, or they’ll get stuck in a pose and have to be carried out, or they’ll (gasp!) pass gas. (Yes, a friend really told me that was one of his fears. It happens. No one cares.)

Just for those folks, I’m offering a Beginner’s Yoga Workshop at East Lake YMCA on Saturday, January 17, from 10 – 11:45 a.m. in the MultiPurpose Room upstairs.

I’ll talk a bit about the history and philosophy of yoga (very little – nothing too boring or esoteric), I’ll answer questions, demo some poses and lead a basic asana practice, then we’ll do some pranayama (breathwork), and we’ll experience relaxation at the end.

This workshop is free and open to YMCA members and guests. Participants should wear comfortable workout clothes (not too baggy), bring a towel and water bottle, and a yoga mat if they have one. (I will have some spares to share.)

Please talk up this workshop. I’d love to offer it once a quarter, but we need some good participation to make that happen. If you have someplace to hang a flyer, let me know and I’ll forward you one.

Wonders of the Natural World

For those of you who missed last month’s amazing full moon, we should be getting a chance to see a similar sight this Saturday, January 10. (We’re expecting some clouds and rain that day here in the ATL, so let’s hope the sky clears up in the evening.) Why will the moon look so HUGE? Check it out here:

Big Moon

Enjoy this gorgeous show, and maybe indulge your playful side in a few moon salutations, honoring the watery, feminine side of our natures.

January Happenings:

I’m still teaching the Monday night Power Yoga class until further notice. Here’s my current schedule:

East Lake YMCA
Monday Morning Flow Yoga, 9:15 – 10:30 a.m., Heritage Room
Monday Night Power (Flow) Yoga class, 7-8 p.m, Meeting Room #3 (Community Room)
Tuesday Night Flow Yoga, 6:30 – 8 p.m., Meeting Room #3 (Community Room)
Friday Night Relaxation Yoga, 7 – 8:25 p.m., Meeting Room #3 (Community Room) – I’ll be working on making this class more restorative and contemplative for the New Year. Check it out!

New Year – Time to Be Reminded of our Yoga Basics

I thought I’d take a minute this week to mention a few basics about yoga. These are things I might say at the beginning of class, but some of you are often late (not to worry – I understand scheduling issues), or you might leave early (ditto), so…here is a brief list of things to keep in mind to make your practice the best it can be.

These first two items are the most important – the others are given in no particular order.

1. Keep in mind the essence of yoga: letting go of expectations, letting go of judgments, letting go of competition (even competition with yourself). Also, staying grounded and present in the moment by focusing on the breath. If the breath becomes ragged or uneven, it’s a sign that you’re working too hard and need to back off from the posture.

2. Everything we do in class should feel good. You should feel better after class than you did before class. If this is not the case, please remember to pay attention to what YOUR BODY is telling you. We’re never forcing anything or straining. I am a guide who is here to help you practice safely, but I can’t feel what your knee or hip or back or neck is telling you, so please modify poses to make them work for you. You never need to ask permission to rest. If you want to come to class and spend the entire time in child’s pose because that’s what your body needs that day, that is yoga.

3. Practice on a(n almost) empty stomach. It’s good to wait at least 2 hours after a full meal (3-4 hours might be better), and at least 1 hour after a light snack before practicing. If you leave work and come straight to class and simply must eat something to avoid the low blood sugar shakes, try a small piece of fruit or a small energy bar — something light and easy to digest.

4. Drink water — plenty of water. Expert opinions vary on just how much that should be. One simple rule of thumb is that you should take your weight, divide that in half, and drink that number of OUNCES of liquid per day. So, for example, if you weight 150 lbs, that would be 75 ounces, or between 9 and 10 (8 oz) cups of liquid per day. New research shows that caffeinated drinks aren’t nearly as diuretic as previously thought, so unless you’re drinking more than four cups of coffee or 8 cups of tea per day, it counts toward your fluid intake. Fruit and vegetable juices do, too, but keep in mind that fruit juices are full of sugar and lack the fiber and many of the phytonutrients that make fruit such a great snack.

5. Don’t try to drink all of your water just before class. I think the reason for this is self-explanatory. All that fluid sloshing around and wending its way south can make for a very uncomfortable practice.

6. Do, however, bring a water bottle with you to yoga, especially for flow/vinyasa classes. We get sweaty and need to replace those fluids (or at least wash the salt off our lips!).

5. If you arrive late to class: Please enter quietly. If we are still in the warm-up portion of class, join in right where we are. If we’ve moved on past sun salutations, you will want to do some warm-ups to get your muscles ready to stretch. Moonflowers, sunflowers, chair flow – any of those will warm the body quickly as long as you’re matching breath with movement.

6. We breathe in and out through the nose in yoga to build and maintain heat in the body. If you need to feel how much heat you lose by breathing out of your mouth, place your hand in front of your mouth and breathe out, as if fogging a window. Feel all that heat and moisture? Much better to keep that inside, warming you and building prana, or energy.

7. If your nose is chronically stuffy, you might want to try a neti pot to wash the dust and pollen out once or twice a day. It’s an old yogic method of body purification that has many modern proponents. Many people I know find this to be a life-changing habit. Neti pots can be purchased at most natural foods stores and online.

8. If you need to leave a yoga class early, keep that in mind. When you have about 10 minutes left before you need to leave, stop and put yourself into corpse pose (savansana, pronounced “shah vaah sah nah”). This is the most important pose we do in class. This resting period allows the body to take the prana, or energy, that we’ve built up in class and use it to repair tissues in the body, as well as to calm the mind.

9. A special note to the Type A student (you know who you are!): If you are leaving class before the relaxation period so you can get 10 extra minutes on the treadmill or exercise bike, you are missing one of the biggest benefits (and pretty much the whole point) of yoga. The 2nd Yoga Sutra says “Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind.” The hatha (or physical) practice is designed to still the mind so it can work more efficiently and comfortably. That’s the REAL yoga, which happens off the mat.

When I open my eyes and look at the wide world, I become great; when I close my eyes and look within, I become greater still.
— Hazrat Inayat Khan

Besides, if you leave my class early, you miss out on the end of class goodies – the lavender temple massages and chimes and chanting.

This is a first draft of this list. I’ll probably be adding to and revising it and sending it out every so often, so if you have any questions, clarifications, or suggestions for other “yoga basics”, let me know.

****************************
Massage appointments are available. I offer discounts to my students! Email me at ifithurts (at) gmail (dot) com .

Thanks for reading all the way to the end, y’all.
Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti! Lisa

Lisa T. Bennett, LNMT, RYT
ltb1014@gmail.com
Friend me on Facebook!
Follow me on Twitter (ltb1014)
My vegan cooking blog is at organicgoddess.wordpress.com

Stuff that’s going on in January (all at East Lake YMCA):
Monday Morning Flow Yoga, 9:15 – 10:30 a.m., Heritage Room
Monday Night Power (Flow) Yoga class, 7-8 p.m, Meeting Room #3 (Community Room)
Tuesday Night Flow Yoga, 6:30 – 8 p.m., Meeting Room #3 (Community Room)
Friday Night Relaxation Yoga, 7 – 8:25 p.m., Meeting Room #3 (Community Room) – I’ll be working on making this class more restorative and contemplative for the New Year. Check it out!

I’m teaching a Yoga Workshop for Beginners on Saturday, January 17, from 10 – 11:45 a.m. at East Lake YMCA. If you know anyone who is yoga-curious, but is perhaps too shy to just pop into a regular yoga class, or has questions, etc., feel free to send them to this workshop. I’m especially hoping that we’ll have a good turnout from the male half of the population. C’mon, guys – remind your friends that for the first 4900 years that it was practiced, yoga was ONLY done by men. Women have only started practicing and been accepted in yoga shalas for the past century at most. And y’all know that I don’t teach a “girly” class! Of course, the workshop will be for beginners, so we won’t start off doing Wild Thing or Flipping the Dog, so no worries. But, if folks *want* to get sweaty, they can. I’ll also be answering questions and dispelling myths as much as possible.

I am not sure which room this class will be in, but will keep you posted. There will be signs posted at the ELY with that information as well. I’m hoping to teach these “Beginners Workshops”, perhaps quarterly, so talk it up. I need this one to be a success so we can plan more, *and* I’m sure you have friends & family who could benefit from yoga!

Is this your year to get more massage?
“If you want to improve your yoga, don’t do more yoga. Get more bodywork.” David Williams

Massage appointments are available most weekdays and (to a limited extent) on the weekends. I specialize in neuromuscular therapy (NMT), myofascial release (MFR), sports massage, passive and assisted stretching, and relaxation. Don’t forget that I offer a substantial discount to my students and friends from the YMCA. Contact me via phone at 404.402.9562 or email ifithurts (at) gmail (dot) com .

Thanks for reading all the way to the end, y’all.
Om Shanti! Lisa

Lisa T. Bennett, LNMT, RYT
ltb1014@gmail.com
Friend me on Facebook!
Follow me on Twitter (ltb1014)
My vegan cooking blog is at organicgoddess.wordpress.com