Now for a bit of a critique:  Class was in the aerobics room, this was a bad choice for a number of reasons.  The echo in that room is horrific and even those without old ears had a hard time understanding what I was saying at times.  There is no tempurature control and the air conditioning vent blew cool air throughout the class.  One wall is lined with mirrors, highly distracting and even I had trouble in vrksasana because I had no easy point to fix my gaze.  I'm moving the class to the multi-purpose room on the main floor.  It has no echo, a slightly padded floor and is not constantly cooled—there are fans in there if it is too hot.

Class started a little stilted and I had a hard time eliciting anything other than silence from the students most of the time.  I am sure it was mainly due to us being a group of strangers that had never really met until class started.  Toward the end, however, I got a bit more response.  One won't be coming back for a while, she enjoyed what she could do but her joints just gave her too much pain.  Her goal is to lose some weight and give it another go.  I hope I can get her back in class sooner as bidalasana and marjariasana both helped to relieve her sacroilliac joint pain.  Her workout buddy won't be attending Wednesday classes as she's in therapy for her shoulder.

Things I'll work on improving tomorrow:  Try to get more student involvement.  Ask why they're taking the class and if they have any favorite poses.  Ask for names . . . I have no idea why I didn't do that last night!  There's a question for you, dear reader, if you have taught a yoga or similar group class what have you done to help break the ice?

Just a quick update on Wellsphere.  Each of my posts here at Everyday Yoga also show up on the Wellsphere; so, if you're reading this over at Wellsphere be forewarned that I'll copy comments to my posts over to my blog at Everyday Yoga so my regular readers can see what you folks have to say.

Namasté

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Marianne Williamson

Wait a minute, why do you keep referring to yourself as an instructor?  Aren't Yoga teachers called gurus?  A guru is a person of great wisdom and knowledge who uses that knowledge and wisdom to guide others.  Guru is not a title that can be claimed, it can only be given.  Be wary of anyone who calls themself a guru.

Namasté

Namasté

As is often the case, my mind flooded with thoughts and concerns but unlike my every day meditation—well I say every day but I probably should say usual, because I haven't been meditating every day—my thoughts weren't random, instead, they were all centered on my son and the situation at hand.  However, unlike the few minutes previously when I had been consciously thinking about these things, I was now able to simply watch what I was thinking almost as if I were a neutral observer watching the situation from the outside.  I realized that he needed some sort of tangible reminder that he is loved and that he is very important to his mother and me but I was unsure what that reminder should be.  It was then that the first seemingly random thought crossed my mind:  Malas.  About a week or maybe two before this event, I had been studying about malas and mantras.  I have never used either and had simply been reviewing them out of curiosity.  Now, however, my study of them was presenting itself as a possible solution.

A mala is a string of beads, 108 beads to be exact, that is used as a tool in meditation.  The beads on a mala are used to help count how many times a mantra has been recited; so, instead of actually counting the number of times the mantra has been repeated, you simply move the beads through your fingers.  The next question was what should his mantra be?  What would help my son remember how loved and important he is?  Oddly enough, that was the answer:  Mom and Dad love me.  I still have to remind him that he needs to count, and I'm not sure whether it's the mala and mantra, but he does seem happier and more at ease.

Some of you might be wondering where I bought my mala for my son.  I didn't.  I made it myself.  I also made one for myself and for my wife.  Unfortunately, making your own mala is not as cost-effective as making your own practice floor.  Unless I can find a more inexpensive source of beads, I'm stuck making malas at twice the expense of what it would cost to buy them.  Still, I think that having made them myself was more important than simply buying a mala.

The title of this entry is It's not a Rosary and the reason for this is that people see the beads of my mala under my collar and immediately assume that it must be a rosary and that is very confusing to them.  The reason that this is confusing is that I am a Latter-day Saint (Mormon) and we don't use rosaries.  The moral of the story, of course, is that we shouldn't make assumptions.

The end result of my bout with illness was that the early session on Saturday was extremely difficult for me.  Most of the session was spent in restorative poses, although that seemed to be just fine with my wife and daughter.  By the time the second session started, I felt full of energy and strength which was a good thing as there were actually three people in the second hour!

Tadasana is the most basic standing asana.  Jim the Stick Figure is standing in tadasana above.  Begin tadasana by placing the feet a comfortable distance apart, about 2 to 3 inches.  The arches should be lifted and your weight should be distributed evenly to the ball, side and heel of each foot.  Your legs should be straight but the knees should not be lock nor hyper-extended with the hips centered over the feet.  The back, neck and head should be erect as if there were a string attached to the very top of your head that was pulling you toward the ceiling.  Your arms should be to the sides of the torso, fingers gently extended with the shoulders aligned with the hips.

I find that there are some basic problem areas when in tadasana:  Sagging arches.  I have very flat feet so sagging arches are a constant issue for me.  Remember to distribute some of your weight onto the sides of your feet, press down with your big toes and keep those arches lifted!  The next problem areas are the tightly clenched muscles along the back of the legs, the biggest offender here are the gluteus muscles.  These muscles are all absolutely positive that if they relax, you'll fall on your face.  Fortunately, that is not true.  The only leg muscles that you should feel tightened are the thighs, convince the others that they can just relax.  Continuing up the spine, our next stop is the back, chest and shoulders.  Make sure that back is aligned over the hips, the chest is lifted but not puffed out and the shoulders are relaxed and not pinched up toward the ears nor backward to the spine.  Finally, the neck and head should be aligned over the center line of the torso.  The chin should be roughly parallel to the floor.

The benefits of tadasana are subtler than other asana but include improved posture; stronger thighs, knees and ankles; and stronger arches/reduced flat footedness.

I like tadasana as it gives me a chance to be still and listen to what my body is doing.  I tend to visit each area of my body and give it a mental once over to evaluate how I am feeling.  I also practice tadasana when standing in line, it may look a little wooden but helps keep me calm and centered while waiting for the line to move.

Yoga and money, that's a very touchy subject in my book  Everywhere I turn I see yoga industry or an advertisement that equates Yoga and wellbeing with whatever product is being sold.  Even worse than the frenetic selling of yoga is how the practice of Yoga has been turned into the franchise of yoga.  The practice of Yoga is concerned with the body, mind and spirit of each student.  Commercial yoga, however, is competing with step aerobics and ellipticals to be the best thing to hit the gym scene since free weights.  True commercial yoga has brought the physical health benefits of yoga to millions but it has also increased the number of yoga related injuries.  Some of those injuries are related to over achieving students, asking your back to give that fictional 110% is demanding a back injury.  Good instructors, instructors that take the time needed to help individual students, largely prevent this.  Commercial yoga has no time for such instructors, time is money and money is what commercial yoga is truly about.

How do you know if you have a commercial yoga instructor?  Your first clue might be where you are practicing:  Are you at the local gym, rec center or a private studio?  Gyms tend more toward the commercial approach, studios lean more toward the individual approach and rec centers generally lie somewhere in between; however, like a book you cannot judge a class simply by where it is being taught!  The single most important and telling factor is the instructor.  Does the instructor take time to consult with individual students during the class or just stick to the set routine and call it good?  Does the instructor encourage discussion during the practice or is it all just the instructor talking?  (Just realized I need to work on that one myself.)  Are you important to the instructor or are you just another face in the nameless swarm?  What should you do if you realize that you have a commercial instructor?  If the class fits your needs and wants, then stick with it.  Personally, I would be out the door and looking for a new instructor in a heartbeat.

Remember, Yoga is about uniting one's body, mind and spirit.  If all you ever do in class is hop from pose to pose to pose then it isn't Yoga, it's just exercise.

Namasté