Yoga, training and health inspiration for you

I want you to be aware of what it is you really want to cultivate through your practice. Are you on the right path? Be curious and ask questions! For example if it is ok to ask yourself if the teacher in front of you is a person who inspires you both on and off the mat. Does their philosophy match with their everyday actions? When we take our first step on a spiritual path it is important to ask these questions to know what the path is really cultivating. 

Mismatches

The definition of Spiritual bypassing is to use spiritual terms to avoid the ‘mess’ of everyday life. Common examples are exaggerated detachment, emotional numbing, anger phobia and overemphasis on the positive. (Very prevalent in the spiritual social media world). When I lived in Thailand at a Tantra university I was guilty of Spiritual bypassing. I focused a lot on building energy into my heart chakra for two years and then believed myself to be so much in ‘anahata’ (the heart chakra) that I was far too loving to get angry.

In reality, I was scared of the emotion of anger and was using a spiritual belief to avoid dealing with emotions from the past that I had never integrated. If you keep shoving anything down in the dark for long enough its roar becomes louder, which is what eventually happened.

One of my teachers, Sarah Powers, talks about, not just waking up (reaching higher states of consciousness), but also growing up, (integrating and holding our emotions) and growing out (meeting ourselves with compassion so we can then share it with others).

Here are some examples of what I try to cultivate in my practice:

• Non judgmental loving awareness
  The moment I sit or stand on my mat I drop into moment to moment, non-judgmental, loving awareness. I check in with my body, with my emotions and then my mind. I try to see what is going on inside, (interoception) and by doing this frequently, in a loving way, it helps to regulate my emotions better.
  
  In our daily lives when an emotion comes up it is easy to be consumed by it and act from that emotional place. The more we practice mindfulness the more we can start to see what is going on in our inner landscape and choose how we respond to life.
  
  A choice is a spontaneous response, a reaction is usually a subconscious decision taken from outside our conscious control. (Think someone saying angry words that they regret after). Therefore, mindfulness practice is giving us more choices to respond to the ups and downs of life in a skilful way. It is teaching us to un-blend from the emotion, not to sit on it but to sit with the emotion in a loving way.

• Focus, Calm and Centring
  Have there ever been so many distractions over the course of humanity as now? I think not! Whether it is the TV, e-mails, Facebook or Instagram our attention spans are reportedly getting shorter and shorter.
  
  After the initial mindfulness of body, heart and mind I check in with the breath. At first, to notice the breath, is it soft or heavy? Loud or quiet? More in the left nostril or right nostril? More in the belly or chest? Everytime the mind wanders I bring it back to feeling the breath, without controlling the breath. This is starting to train the brain to focus on what we want to let go of. To attend to what we intend. This practice is literally building up the decision making part of the brain to help us not get so caught up in content but to choose which content is beneficial.
  
  Through practice it is easier to be present with our loved ones when we are at home. Instead of the planning mind sneaking in and getting caught up in thoughts of work we can let these thoughts go and give our entire attention to our loved ones. A rare and valuable gift!
  
  After this breath focus, I drop the awareness to the lower belly, and start to breath diaphragmatically, with an ujjayi breath, to a ratio of 5 in 5 out. By breathing diaphragmatically the abdominal organs and the vagus nerve (a nerve that runs through all the organs) get massaged and therefore the body moves into the ‘rest and digest’ branch of the nervous system and out the ‘fight of flight’ branch. In the rest and digest branch, the heart rate lower, blood pressure lowers, the immune system is boosted and digestion can occur.
  
  The breathing rhythm 5 in 5 out is also an optimum rhythm to relax the body and give the best fuel to the brain. From a more energetic point of view by dropping the awareness to the lower belly, we drop into the ‘hara’ - a place of ‘being’ not doing, a place where our intuition and natural intelligence can arise.

• Playfulness and Curiosity
  Look at any new born of any species and they come into the world with so much playfulness and curiosity, which as adults we sometimes forget and become far too serious. One fascinating study on bears showed that the bears who played the most lived the longest, which is a good enough reason for me.
  
  However, a posture can never be truly known. Each day is different, each moment and even each breath! In each posture we can cultivate a curiosity for what is alive right now. Physically am I stiffer on one side or the other in a posture? Does my mind wander in some postures more than others? What emotions or thoughts come up in each posture? Each posture is a wonderful frame for you to dive in and investigate what is happening here and now.
  
  These are some examples of tools I use to cultivate certain qualities in my life, as first you make habits then habits make you.
  
  To play is such a privilege as it means we are feeling safe, so if we feel safe enough in our practice how can we bring more curiosity and play into each moment? The ego likes to put things in a box, to think it knows something, so that it can put its attention elsewhere. An example of this would be childs pose, the mind thinks it knows this posture, so it wonders off to plan tomorrow.
  
  Here are some questions I encourage you to have in mind the next time you go to class or step on your mat; What do I want to cultivate more of in my life? Is this practice helping me to get there? How can I use this very moment to begin?

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Can you be steady but still soft and relaxed? These are traits that really can help when you are leading, especially a group of kids. Yoga teacher and author Helen Larsson tells you more about a playful way to lead.

Lead in a steady yet playful way

I love the concept of sthira-sukham from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, which means steady but at ease. I also love to explore how I can take what I experience and learn on the yoga mat into everyday life. How can we be steady, focused, aware and awake in all that we do, but still be at ease, gentle, soft and relaxed.

 I like to play with this and it’s so useful.

For instance the other day, when I was riding. The horse needs you to take the lead but if you become rigid, inflexible and harsh it will protest. The other way around, if you are too soft and yielding the horse won’t listen to you at all. It’s also really helpful in my work as a kid’s yoga teacher.

When I started, more than six years ago, I wasn’t good at the sthira-part. I was way too flexible and lacked the steadiness. The kids felt that and tested me in many ways, which was a great learning ground. Children just like horses need to feel that you are the leader, but if you get rigid and too strict they will start hating yoga. They need you to be steady but in a playful, fun and relaxed way.

You can apply this to anything. To the way you walk to work, the way you clean your house, the way you speak when you have an important presentation to do, to the way you sit in front of the computer and so on and so forth.

So, will you play with me, right now, whatever you are doing? See if you can be steady but at the same time soft and relaxed. How does it feel?

 One thing that works for me when I become to rigid is smiling. And forget about perfection, it’s boring.

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More about Helen

Helen has practiced and studied yoga for almost 25 years. She teaches yoga for all ages and specializes in yoga for children and yoga for stress management and recovery. Helen also holds workshops and trainings in children's and teenage yoga and has written a book on children's yoga in Swedish, "Yoga with children" (Lava Publisher).

With the coming of her second child, yoga teacher Anastasia Shevchenko had to re-think her work. Read her story about bringing a big project to life despite a very small budget and lack of investors – while taking care of two small kids!

When life with kids make you change your plans

This story began last summer when our family got the good news: we were expecting! My husband and I wanted to have a second child, our 2 year old just got out of diapers, so we let the nature take its course… As I got pregnant, I realized that my life would have to change.

Before having children, I was a new yoga teacher, very keen to take on any teaching opportunity I got, even if it wasn’t well-paid, or even if it wasn’t paid at all for that matter! I just wanted to learn, to gain experience, to build on my resume… I started out, like most others, subbing classes for more established teachers and teaching at weird times that nobody else wanted.

With Liam’s birth, I had to become more picky, and frankly speaking, we could afford it. My husband had a fruitful work period, and I established myself with a small number of dedicated students who were happy to follow me from one rented space to another. At this point, I still liked to take some time in the evening away from the family for my work.

Changes had to be made
With the coming of the second child however, I had to re-think my work. I wanted to establish a way in which I could work more during the day or in high-intensity time chunks, work less, and be more recognized for what I do and how I do it.

And so, in the end of the summer 2017, the idea of the Berlin Yoga Conference was born. In September I put together a temporary website and outlined my vision, then approached the yoga teachers to see if the ideas resonated with them. I also started looking for a venue, which was one of the biggest challenges so far: Berlin has become very expensive and the venue costs a substantial chunk of my budget. In the end, I found an amazing venue that could not have been more perfect for the occasion – Malzfabrik. The people working there were very happy and supportive about the idea of hosting the Berlin’s first ever Yoga Conference.

With the venue finalized, by October a list of presenters was ready as well, with some basic notions about the programming and the business plan. In November, I approached important service providers for the next steps - the designer and the programmer - as well as the possible sponsors and media partners. 

Creative ways of bringing a project to life
Why have I planned the Berlin Yoga Conference so much in advance? By now you know the first reason – because of my daughter who was born in the end of February. The second reason is simple – because I needed a lot of time to compensate for the lack of money. Planning in advance has provided me with enough time to come up with all kinds of creative ways of bringing this project to life despite a very small budget, lack of investors, connections, or a well-known name in the community.

So now, here I am, working full-time (without getting paid for this), while having a newborn baby, nursing her while doing emails, Skyping with people while she’s asleep, and taking her with me in a sling to business meetings – all of this before my 3-year old comes back from the day care and we spend some time as a family the four of us.

And the last thing: I manage to do my daily practice! At 20:00 when we put the two kids to sleep, I have that one hour to practice, well, usually while trying to catch up with my husband stretching next to me. Well, maybe it is not a traditional Ashtangi kind of way, but that’s what I can afford at this point!

Interested in the Berlin Yoga Conference? There is a chance to experience a little taste of it through the photos from the Pop Up#1:Meet the Berlin Yoga Conference or to come over (link to the program for the pop up#2) to the Pop Up#2: Berlin Summer Yoga Edition this August 18, 2018

Find out more about Anastasia Shevchenko 

Home page, Facebook and Instagram.

Photo Credits: Alessandro Sigismondi

It all started with philosophy. Yoga was developed as a practical way to break free from certain patterns and to reduce suffering. But yoga in itself is not important. What is important is the effect it might have on you. Dare to try Yoga Philosophy online!

How can yoga have transformational effects?

I turn everything I do into a project. This is one of the negative patterns in my life. When I do something, I have a hard time taking it lightly. I become ambitious and I want to become good at what I do. This is not necessarily a bad thing. However, looking closely at this pattern I feel an underlying sense of unease. It is so familiar and subtle that I easily forget that it is there, but it is both powerful and poisonous. It whispers in my ear that I am not naturally OK, and gives me the uncomfortable feeling that I need to be successful to be good enough. If I just follow my usual impulses, then I will seek relief through ambitious behaviour, and sadly this strategy never gives me the relief that I am longing for.

Yoga is'nt something to be good at

The reason why I share my personal pattern is that it serves as a good entry towards an essential philosophical point regarding yoga. Think about the sentence: “Laura is good at yoga.” Most of us would not raise an eyebrow if we heard the sentence in a conversation, and we would immediately understand, what is meant. Laura is experienced in yoga, and she is probably both flexible, strong and able to do advanced yoga poses. Or she is good at meditating for long periods or breathing in intricate ways. However, from a traditional yoga point of view it does not matter so much, what you think it means to be good at yoga. The problem is the very notion that yoga is something to be good at. The point can be expressed very simply: Yoga is not important in itself. It is only important because of the effect it has on you. On the surface, this may sound trivial, but if you look closer it is both significant and important.

Originally, yoga was not developed as a training system. It started with philosophy. Yoga began with an acknowledgement that there are certain patterns that most of us seem to be trapped in, and that these patterns bring suffering to our lives. Yoga was developed as a practical way to break free from those patterns and to reduce suffering. From a traditional perspective, yoga can therefore be compared to a medical treatment. You take a painkiller to reduce your headache, and to say that someone is good at taking painkillers, would be weird. The same is the case with yoga, if you look at it this way.

How to make yoga a deeper practice

Yoga is a way to deal with the patterns that create suffering in your life. This is what yoga was developed for, and this is still in the DNA of yoga. However, to tap into this transformational potential of your practice, you need to keep your eyes on the ball. It is true that yoga can give you a better life, but it is equally true that your patterns are likely to sneak into your yoga practice, if you are not aware of it, and then your practice will not have a deeper effect. If you are a control freak, then you become a “yoga control freak”, and if you are a neurotic “achiever” (like me), then you can easily become a neurotic ”yoga achiever”. In fact, yoga can easily become yet another arena, where you act out your negative patterns.

I am not saying that it is wrong to set goals or achieve in yoga, and I am not saying that making yoga into a project is bad yoga. Honestly, I think it can be great fun to do so. All I am saying is that if you wish for yoga to touch you deeply, then you need to know, what you are dealing with, so you can distinguish, when your practice serves you well, and when it becomes harmful towards yourself. In other words, I am advocating a shift of perspective. Yoga is about you. Yoga is about life.

Let the practice suit the person

In my own practice, I daily observe ambitious impulses to get into better shape and push my practice to the next level. However, when I have the presence to observe these impulses clearly, I see how they arise out of my feeling that I am not good enough. When I follow these impulses, I feel a sense of numbness and disconnection. Because then my focus is on external ideals and because I naturally try to ignore, when my body’s signals tell me that I am overworked and tired and that I need rest rather than results. Your patterns are likely to be different from mine, but I imagine that most people practicing yoga can recognize the potential of letting the practice suit the person, rather than trying to be good at yoga.

Online Yoga Philosophy Course

Are you curious of learning more about yoga philosophy? If you are serious about letting yoga have a profound, positive effect in your life, you need to look honestly at your life and your patterns. Challenge yourself to actually try something new. In this Yoga Philosophy course Simon guides you through philosophy lectures and yoga classes. Read more about the course here!

Read more

• Prāṇa - does it really exist? by Simon Krohn.
• Yogis and yoginis – Let's get lost together, by Simon Krohn.
• Sankalpa - sätt din intention, av Veronica Jäderlund.

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