WEEK 11 - And then it was done.
NOTE: I just read your letters! That was a perfect and thoughtful conclusion for me. Each one is precious. Thank you for your reflections xx
Firstly, thank you for the food!
It is a feat, a miracle, a gift to make food in the midst of a training weekend. Thank you for all the contributions - from fresh berries to baked bread. Vegetable, lentil, leafy, and tabouli salads. Beets! Cheese. Dates. Tea. Crackers. Nuts. The Works. Thank you.
Thank you to Scott, Ruth, Sherri , and Lili for your teaching, and Beetz for your music this weekend.
Each week I watch you teach and I am inspired to keep exploring what can be offered, how, why. You have all brought masterful work forward in your own ways. May you keep developing your voices and deliveries.
If you were ask me - “I’d love to learn about yoga, what do you recommend?”
I’d still say Desikachar for the philosophy, Yee for the asana, Stern for the science.
I know I brought lots of other books and mentioned lots of other resources. My aim wasn’t to overwhelm but to offer ways to meet personal interests in particular topics.
However, I totally believe in the 3 texts of this course. When you want to deepen your understanding or inspire a new angle, go back and reread them. They will stand the test of time.
As to your diplomas, sign your name. Make it yours. Like all of it. Know why it is yours. Know the work it took, the time it took, the changes it brought to you. Only you know the full extent of this training for you. That said, for all of us at this time, holding our attention to anything for more than 4.3 seconds is a feat. And we stayed with it for 11 weekends. Thank you for your time and attention. Sign your certificate and notify yourself of your work. “I Am This.” Say it aloud as you sign.
Mantra Aham Prema I Am Love
Keep coloring. Keep gathering. Keep moving. Get still.
AND, Thank you for taking the time to write out your comments regarding the training. I agree, more structure would have been good. I do not, by my nature, think in a straight line. It allows me to revel in the big ideas, but it can difficult to follow and not easy for me to manage. Thank you for trusting me through what may have been confusing and tiring on some days.
What pleases me is that we landed in a group that was alive and caring, and you produced beautiful teaching. By the last 3 weekends together, everyone offered cogent and personal first teachings, some better than professional classes I have attended. I want you to know how rare that is, how remarkable you were in this accomplishment. Now, having lived into the teacher within you, you can go on and add all the content and detail that you like.
For those who crave more precision and anatomy, I would recommend a 200hr with Jason Crandell. He is very technical and will likely deliver a quality of detail that you are looking for. No one person is likely to ever be The Training for you. Call on different teachers to provide different perspectives for different moments of your ongoing spiritual life.
For me, the sangha - the community - is as important as any other element in yoga and one of the most difficult to cultivate. It doesn’t come in a book. It is a living thing that changes with the news, your energy levels, your interest levels, your home life and your work lives - all of which meet in the room with us. And when done best, community connection seems inevitable and easy.
Next?
Classes at Tribe and other studios are always ongoing. Keep at it.
My next in-depth teaching is The Kundalini Experience. This is a case-study format in which each day we practice a kriya from a book and then have discussion and questions to follow to learn the details through the practice. Registration at Tribe.
Then Mexico June 20-25.
Then more immersions the fall. Pranayama. Mantra. Meditation. Dates in your packet are placeholders.
Always, I’ll meet you on the mat.
Keep writing: What is present? What’s required?
WEEK 10 - Becoming Teachers
Another remarkable weekend.
Thank you to Rachel M., Anna, Alice, and Jai for your teaching this weekend.
I am a better teacher for watching each of you. AND thank you to those who are making the commitment to be the students for the teachers. Your participation helps the 5 Pose teacher grow and they will save you years of practice by offering new ways in you can adopt or ways you would choose not to teach. Keep with it. Almost there.
A/ SADHANA practice for weekend 11
Take a look at the last chapter of Yee, balanced sequences but each with a nudge towards a physical and energetic focus. I turn to these often as starting points when I want to have a clear arc from start to finish. Also, Desikachar has 4 practices at the back, pg 233 - if you use them, keep to a 4 count inhale, 4 count exhale for each of the poses, moving dynamically in and out for 3 rounds and holding for 3 rounds.
B/ READ and CONSIDER for weekend 11
The introduction to Desikachar will have new meaning after our conversations this weekend and as you start to make choices for what and how you teach in earnest. No need to agree with him, but it is a starting point to reflect on and push from or pull close for the development of your offerings.
If you look at the table of contents for Desikachar, you see that we focused these 11 months on Part 1, the practice of yoga. As your practice grows or if you are of a philosophical bent, Part 2 will be revelatory. Explore as you will.
With that in mind, consider the Afterword in One Simple thing - pg 243-247. Here, Stern is describing the lineage of 4 influential, primary teachers all of whom came from Krishnamacharya - Desikachar’s father. Reading the introduction of Desikachar is a personal and informal means of understanding the larger arc of Krishnamacharya’s aims and then Stern explains how those aims rippled out in different forms.
This work evolves through us as practitioners and us as teachers. There is no YOGA set in stone, but there are principles. We have to ask What is present? What’s required? and work from there to give the work and progress structure.
C/ Mantra we used Ong So Hung (Link is here)
If you want more…
Here is Eddie Stern talking to Elena Brower on Practice You podcast.
Here is Abbie Galvin talking about home practice on Better Yoga podcast.
WEEK 9 - Finding Balance
What a remarkable weekend.
Thank you to Yina, Shannon, Patti, Rachel, and Val. You each presented sequences that were also versions of you. This is such an advanced aspect of teaching. You will refine what you offer the rest of your life. You will find four new ways to cue dog or details in triangle in the next month, but you being you is a lifelong achievement. And, like the poses, you will find ways of refining you.
The Self is not a noun. It is a verb, it is alive in this moment and shapeshifting into the next. The practices of yoga help to direct this into a process of evolution rather than reaction to outer circumstances or mental constructs. You are participants in an active seeking of freedom.
You each delivered clearly. You intelligently followed energetic throughlines and explored families of postures. You moved them from your experience and mind/body out into ours. I find that quite miraculous.
And you did it as yourselves. With daring and generosity you met the moment just as we needed.
Thank you. May your teaching this weekend serve as a sound starting point from which to continue your yoga and teaching studies.
And on we go to the next week. Keep up your home practice!
A/ SADHANA practice for weekend 10
Day after day. Start with 5 poses. What do you need? What will serve you?
At the last chapter there are overall sequences that support the different groups of folds or backbends or twists. These are useful starting points, or places to take just 5 poses from Yee and play from there.
B/ READ and CONSIDER for weekend 10
The Heart of Yoga, 8 Weeks to Balance, and One Simple Thing - is there any part you missed or want to go back to?
Are there other titles or resources you want from me before we finish? Make a list. I’m listening.
C/ Mantra we used OM BENZA SATTO HUM for purification (Link is here)
WEEK 8 - Changing Orientation
“The secret is just to say ‘Yes!’ and jump off from here. Then there is no problem. It means to be yourself, always yourself, without sticking to an old self.” - Shunryu Suzuki
Keep refining your 5 poses. What do you need? Which postures serve you?
A/ SADHANA practice for weekend 8
Asana Rodney Yee chapter 7 : Read through the postures and daily sequences. Give yourself time to explore the variations. Each week, use the days 2-5 for sequences at home. Day 6 is for contemplation and reflection.
Breath : Nadi shodona 3-5 rounds at the end of your practice. If you feel comfortable, consider adding this to the end of your 5 poses when you lead the group.
Mantra: Ong So Hung. Recording is here. Practice counting 12 rounds on your fingers as you build up duration.
Meditation: If you have the Sanctuary app try the 5 minutes to Power meditation from the Empower section
B/ READ and CONSIDER for weekend 9:
Read Desikachar: p 53-57, 67, chap 7 Bandhas - practice bandhas + breath with bandhas
Rachel Beetz made recordings of the lecture portions of the weekend. This is an experiment. Give a listen and let her know what works and what doesn’t.
WEEK 7 - The Subtle Body
*We Zoomed. Thank you for your courage.*
Read + Practice Yee Week 6, Turning Inward - I used the warmup from Desikachar pg 34
Read Desikachar pg 18-23 on the role of breath and movement and ujjai instructions.
Read Desikachar chapter 7 on jalanhara bandha (we will proceed to the others weeks 8 + 9)
Look back through Desikachar on designing a sequence and modifications so you can keep refining your 5 personal poses. They can change day by day, but start with “what’s present?” “what’s required?” and build from there. 5 poses. Maybe all are tadasana for 3 ujjai breaths. Try it. That’s a potent thing to do. Just get still. What do you require to find inner steadiness and remember you are completely resourced and connected?
BEGIN TO BUILD NADI SHODONA AT THE END OF YOUR PRACTICE. alternate nostril breathing. This balances the energy of the left and right body, the perceptions and functions of the left and right brain. We become more whole, unified, magnified. We can see ourselves more fully.
Start with 3 rounds (*in left, out right, in right, out left) and build a bit at a time to 12 rounds at the end of each practice.
Mantra : OM Gum Ganapatayei Namaha . Link is here.
Meditation: If you have the Sanctuary app try the 10 minutes to restoration in the Heal section. Practice moving your attention, directing your energy, rotating your consciousness. This is the inner action of yogic practice.
WEEK 6 - Facing the Unknown
A/ SADHANA practice for 1/05 - 1/28
Asana : Rodney Yee chapter 5 : Read through the postures and daily sequences. Give yourself time to explore the variations. Each week, use the days 2-5 for sequences at home. Day 6 is for contemplation and reflection.
CHOOSE A SEQUENCE FROM DAY 2 OR 3 OR 4 OR 5. Try going through the whole thing, start to finish. See what you run into. Notice this. What you want, what you don’t, how you justify what you choose to avoid what you don’t want. These preferences are known as the kleshas. Yoga as a whole system is designed to help us reverse the kleshas. Notice how moving through them physically helps us to see ourselves more fully.
Mantra : Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo. Link is here.
Meditation: If you have the Sanctuary app try the Power + Balance from the Peace section (13 minutes)
B/ READ + CONSIDER to accompany this week’s sadhana:
Heart of Yoga: Chapter 2, + chapter 8 - Obstacles to Yoga.
I would alsonhighly recommended reviewing chapter 4, Constructing a Yoga Sequence now that you are staring Ito consider how a sequence is built, how it serves you, how you want to change it, what you avoid. Building your own “sequence” through the day is what we consider our “schedule” but it is answering the same questions - “What is present? What’s required?”
WEEK 5 - Allowing Receptivity
A/ SADHANA practice for 12/7 - 1/05
Asana : Rodney Yee chapter 4 : Read through the postures and daily sequences. Give yourself time to explore the variations. Each week, use the days 2-5 for sequences at home. Day 6 is for contemplation and reflection.
CHOOSE A SEQUENCE FROM DAY 2 OR 3 OR 4 OR 5. GET FAMILIAR WITH IT. Do the sequence and make changes as you feel are needed. Listen for what your body wants or needs to go from pose to pose. We will make groups according to those who chose different days. You will share notes, what you added, what you did differently, what worked as is. This is how you start to understand sequencing. See *note below.
Mantra : Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo. Link is here.
Meditation: If you have the Sanctuary app try the Clear Heart + Mind from the Peace section (8 minutes)
B/ READ + CONSIDER for weekend 6:
*We didn’t cover it this weekend, but reading Heart of Yoga: Chapter 5 Modifications for Asana Practice is an important means of understanding how to change the Yee sequences to make them more valuable to your personal practice. Try some of his suggestions for altering the breath and the movements in each pose. You will build new power and awareness. We will cover it on Friday of our next weekend.
Read The Heart of Yoga Chapter 8: Things that darken the heart for weekend 6
WEEK 4 - Opening to Vulnerability
Substack post from the day after our weekend. Maybe you relate.
A/ SADHANA practice for 11/17 - 12/05
Asana : Rodney Yee chapter 3 : Read through the postures and daily sequences. Give yourself time to explore the variations. Each week, use the days 2-5 for sequences at home. Day 6 is for contemplation and reflection.
Mantra : Kirtan Kriya. Link is here.
Seated tall. Thumb and first finger touch “SA”, middle finger and thumb “TA”, ring finger and thumb, “NA”, pinky finger and thumb “MA”. With each syllable, imagine white light pulsing the forehead center.
The first 2 minutes aloud, the second 2 minutes whisper, the next 4 minutes silent repetition of the mantra through your mind’s eye and moving through the mudra (hand gestures), next 2 minutes whisper, next 2 minutes aloud. Sit quietly. Notice.
Meditation: If you have the Sanctuary app try the Clear Heart + Mind from the Peace section (8 minutes)
B/ READ and CONSIDER for weekend 4:
Heart of Yoga: Chapter 5 Modifications for Asana Practice
Deep Front Line
WEEK 3 - Awakening Connection
“I rise. I set. I am the sun. I am the moon. Moving, I remember. Moving, I become.”
The following sadhana elements are options, recommended for you to explore and use when you are ready. Asana for physical movement, breath to train the mind, mantra to reset our frequency, meditation (just 5 minutes) to reestablish our power.
This isn’t homework. You do what serves you. You do what you want more of, what you want to learn, what you want to become. What you become will be what you teach.
A/ SADHANA practice for 10/27 - 11/14
Asana Rodney Yee chapter 2 : Read through the postures and daily sequences. Give yourself time to explore the variations. Each week, use the days 2-5 for sequences at home. Day 6 is for contemplation and reflection.
Breath : practice our viloma breath, inhaling in thirds from top to bottom and one smooth exhale for 3 minutes. Then one smooth inhalation and exhale in thirds for three minutes. Then inhale in thirds and exhale in thirds three minutes to finish.
Mantra : Asatoma sad gamaya, Tamaso maa jyotir gamaya, Myritorma amrita gamaya. “Lead us from untruth to truth, from darkness to light, from death to immortality.” Link is here.
Meditation: If you have the Sanctuary app try the 5 minutes to Power meditation from the Empower section
B/ READ and CONSIDER for weekend 4:
Heart of Yoga: Chapter 4 The Principles of Asana Practice
Chakra Yoga: Manipura (pg 53) and explore the poses if you choose
Andrew Huberman talking to Steven Pressfield on how to overcome inner resistance
Steven Pressfield books Turning Pro, The War of Art
WEEK 2 - Being present
“Connecting left and right, ida and pingala, sun and moon, to find balance between.”
A/ ASANA practice for 10/6 - 10/26:
Rodney Yee chapter 1. Read through the postures and give yourself time to explore the variations. Each week, use the days 2-5 for sequences at home. Day 6 is for contemplation and reflection.
Chakra Yoga Svadhistana (Beetz did a recording of the svadhistana cues if you like)
B/ READ and CONSIDER for weekend 3:
Heart of Yoga: Chapter 3 The Principles of Asana Practice. In weekend 3 we will consider Sun Salutations; fluidity, movement, momentum. Note on page 21 and 22 that Desikachar prescribes inhale into the chest, exhale navel to spine. Keep this in mind as you do asana and your poses will grow steadier and your mind quiet. Link the body and the breath.
C/ IN THE STUDIO: I’m teaching the Yee standing sequences and the Desakachar breath this week (10/12) in studio classes. Notice that standing poses invigorate and the 123 breath steadies. This makes for an ability to stay present even when we build to larger / harder / more demanding postures - ie. more demanding circumstances in our lives. (Talia and Yina I will make a video later this week if that would be useful.)
D/ If the left / right hemisphere conversation was interesting to you. Here is Jill Bolte Taylor’s TED talk. This is an essential aspect of yoga as a whole - the way we can use the left and right sides of the body to repair and respond to the left and right sides of the brain. Understanding this creates more kindness and compassion towards myself and the way my mind works.
Spirals of Connection Madison Murphy Stone
WEEK 1 - Becoming modern yogis
“Something in us wants to live fully and love fully and be with the Sacred.”
HOW TO START:
I am adding The Heart of Yoga to our reading list.
To be precise about the reading I would say:
8 Weeks to Balance: pages ix - page 29 (we will cover “Being Present” next weekend)
The Heart of Yoga xviii - xxi and chapter 1
Chakra Yoga page 19 - 35 - Check out the audio cues that Rachel Beetz made!
Daily Rx : 20 minutes reading - anything, anything at all. Why? This podcast: Your Brain on Deep Reading. This book: The Reading Brain in a Digital World
Pick a mantra. 108 times using your mala. Can you be consistent? How often is realistic?
Asana in class or use the video link here. (sequence from Chakra Yoga by Alan Finger)
Want to hear the podcast from Saturday again? Could be Generational
Read the handout: Four Pillars of Dharma from The Great Work of Your Life
Listen to podcast from Tara Brach : Embodied Presence part 1 - this is the wonder of asana.
Sit and listen and take notes. if you listen while driving, listen again when you can sit with it.
Write me a letter with your observations / reflections on her ideas. How do they relate to your life? What will you take forward?
Inside This Clay Jug
by KabirInside this clay jug there are canyons and pine mountains,
and the maker of canyons and pine mountains!
All seven oceans are inside, and hundreds of millions of stars.
The acid that tests gold is here, and the one who judges jewels.
And the music that comes from the strings that no one touches,
and the source of all water.
If you want the truth, I will tell you the truth:
Friend, listen: the God whom I love is inside.
Kabir, adapted by Robert Bly in Kabir, Ecstatic Poems (Beacon Press, 2007)Where are you placing your attention, your prana, your vital life force? What we “ingest” shapes our perception of what is possible and what the future holds. The digital landscape affects us.
Here is a worthy conversation with Krista Tippett of OnBeing: Finding Faith in Our Future
