Dancing Dogs Yoga

Step Outside of Your Comfort Zone.

Commit to Growth.

30 Minute Podcast on Vitality (recorded live at Dancing Dogs Yoga):

Week Two Vitality: 30 Minutes [ 35:37 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Yogis are always seeking equanimity. We find ourselves looking for peace and inner calm that can only found by becoming our true, authentic selves. But how do we find ourselves?

We spend a lot of time and money looking for ourselves, when the truth is we are never really lost. Sometimes we are just looking in the wrong place. We get caught up in the pursuit of success or fortune, or stuck playing a role of care-taker, people-pleaser, victor or victim. We forget that we are, in our own right, strong, powerful and exceptional, and that who we are is so much bigger than what we do.

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa said, “The magnetic needle always points to the north, and hence it is that the sailing vessel does not lose her direction.”. By finding our true north, we can keep ourselves on course, away from the rocks, and flow with the river of life.

In our asana practice, my teacher Baron Baptiste instructs that we find true north alignment by getting present to our bodies. We firmly set our feet on the earth, grounding ourselves and our practice, and bring the elements of earth, water, fire, air and space to our practice. We find the earth beneath us by pressing our feet (or hands!) into the earth. We add water though the flow, the easy movement of breath and body, or vinyasa, and by softening the joints. We add fire by engaging the core, and hugging in, from skin to muscle to bone, to radiate out. We add heat, both external and the internal furnace of the breath, to purify our practice and cleanse our bodies, stoking the fire. We add space and air by softening, allowing change to happen.

It is perhaps easier to find our true north on the mat than off of it. Distractions in our daily lives pull us off in the wrong direction, so we look for ways outside of our asana practice to bring us back on course. Perhaps the easiest and most sure fire way to equanimity and balance in your life is to add a meditation practice. Taking time for yourself during the day, even if only for five or ten minutes, can leave you feeling renewed and refreshed, and back in the flow.

Set an intention for yourself to take more time for yourself. By giving yourself time and space, you will give yourself a compass to find your true north, and to stay on course in your life and in your relationships.

In his book 40 Days to Personal Revolution, my teacher Baron Baptiste suggests that to achieve positive change in our lives on the path to happiness, we need to remove the rocks.

We all have walls. We put up these walls and barriers to protect ourselves, but we end up walling ourselves in. We create what we think are safe places, and end up stifling our creativity and growth. We protect ourselves by adding rocks and building the walls higher, and close ourselves off.

Without risk there is no reward. We have to remain open to find love and happiness, even if that means we become more vulnerable to harm. Consider the Zen aphorism: Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.

Try to put aside your thoughts and efforts and allow things to just be. Let the universe work on your behalf. Stop being a human doing and be a human being. If you try easy, instead of trying hard, you will be open to receive life’s gifts. If you continue to struggle, to swim against the current, you will not find ease. Go with the flow. Save your strength to swim with the tide, and see where the universe takes you.

Set an intention to remove the rocks. You might start with your yoga practice. Remove any obstacles that keep you from your highest practice.  If you leave your ego in the shoe cubbies, what can you accomplish? If you stop looking outside of your mat, and outside of yourself in your practice, what can you achieve? If you silence the harsh voice of the inner critic, what can you be?

Remove the rocks in your practice, then remove the rocks in your life. What can you let go of in order to break through? In 40 Days, Baron asks, “What thoughts, feelings, worries or past situations am I clinging to that drain me?” Consider this.

Are you in a toxic relationship? A toxic business environment? Are you holding on to anger or something in your past? It is true that our past has helped shape us, but the past does not exist in the present. Let go of past resentments and anger and move into the here and now. “Be now here, or be nowhere,” says Baron, and be here without the heavy baggage of a time that you can not change.

Get out of your own way. Cast aside the barriers that you have created for yourself. You may be able to tear down the walls quickly, and you may need to remove the rocks one by one, but with diligence and determination, you can be the change that you wish to see in the world.

“From birth, we are taught to swim upstream, but in yoga practice the goal is to jump into the river of life.” — Baron Baptiste

What would you do if you knew you could not fail?

What would you change in your life? Would you try something new? Would you start your own business? A non-profit to serve others? Would you change your career?

Some of my friends get a little annoyed at the yogi in me sometimes, striving to point out the positive, looking for a way to find an upbeat spin on a dreary situation. I am optimistic, about the world and about the future, and I have my yoga practice to thank for that shift in vision. Yoga in general, and Baron Baptiste in particular, have taught me that I am powerful, and that I can make my dreams come true. The practice of yoga has helped me remove the bricks, or obstacles, in my life and reach for the stars. By thinking bigger, my whole world is opening up, and the world is amazing.

The yoga community is good about bolstering each other, about holding each other up. If you don’t have a yoga community, find a community, a group of people who tell you that you CAN. If you are surrounded by people who tell you that you can’t – find a new group of people who will not hold you back. A rising tide lifts all ships if we do not tether ourselves to the dock. Loosen up, expand your horizons, and go for it.

Make a list of the things you want in life. Forget the mundane things like a new phone or a new car and think big. Ask yourself: “What do I want to manifest in my life?”

Now ask yourself what is stopping you. What are the limiting beliefs that are keeping you from pursuing your dreams? What blocks are in your way? Are you afraid to succeed or afraid to fail? Are you worried that others may resent you if you do succeed? A wise teacher once told me, “What other people think of you is none of your business.” (Thanks, Mark White!) Forget about what other people think and decide what matters to you.

So ask yourself again: “What do I want?” Write it down. Commit your dreams to the reality of black and white. Tell people what you want. Forget what you are supposed to do, and what other people expect you to do, and find something in your life that you want to do. Don’t rush the process. Expect a few scrapes and stumbles. Maybe even a few falls. But don’t quit. Get back up. Pursue your dreams. Shine. Shine like we are all meant to shine.   Not only can you reach the stars, but you can be a star.

“Almost everything–all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” – Steve Jobs’ Stanford Commencement Address

I am having a torrid love affair with my yoga practice.

Inhaling, I sweep my arms up overhead, my gaze following my fingertips.  As I bow toward the earth, I notice the first rays of sun peaking over the tops of the trees.  I flow.

On my next pass, arms reaching high, the sun is making himself known, rising from his slumber as I awaken from mine.  Hues of orange, pink and yellow dance outside of my window.  Flow.

I step my right foot between my hands and rise, like the sun, sinking deep into my hips as I reach into a Crescent Lunge.  My eyes are drawn again to the rising sun.

Crawling out of bed in the morning and rolling out my yoga mat is one of the best gifts I have ever given myself.  Moving through the Baptiste Journey Into Power sequence awakens my body and my mind, just as the world awakes around me.  The sheer beauty of the Lowcountry awakens my soul.   I love Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga.

In February of 2011, I went on my own version of a yogic pilgrimage.  I was in search of a teacher, a guide.  I went online and booked teacher trainings and workshops with Baron Baptiste, Seane Corne and Shiva Rea.

My first training was a three-day Foundations in Action in Boston, with Baron Baptiste.  After the first day, I knew I was home.  After the third day, I was signed up for a Level One Training 8 day bootcamp with Baron in New York.  I canceled the trainings with Seane and Shiva and settled into my my new home— the Baptiste Community.

This practice has changed me.  Yoga has been a large part of my life, but Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga has taught me to bring LOVE to the love of my practice. I found my teacher in Baron, but I found so much more.

I found a friend and mentor in Senior Baptiste teacher Mark White of MBody Yoga, who has helped me find my vision for my own community, and is a constant source of encouragement and inspiration for me.  I found inspiration for service in Paige Elenson, founder of Africa Yoga Project.  I found compassion for myself as well as others, and with the help of Bala Vinyasa Yoga’s Kiersten Mooney, I learned that Power Yoga can have a softer side, even for type “A”s like me.

Slower to anger, quicker to lend a hand, I am also more present, more aware.  I take the time to notice the nest of cardinals near my porch, and the baby woodpeckers in the tree in the front yard.  I am experiencing life, and not witnessing it.  So many of us get caught up in the grind.  We have to be there, we have to do this and that.  We forget in the midst of our busyness to take the moment we are living in and feel it.  We are not present.

Yoga helps us reach inside and find the NOW.  We begin to realize that where we need to be is HERE, and that this breath, this moment is the one we need to experience.

I love this practice.  I love the heat.  I love the way it feels in that first forward fold when the sweat drips from the top of my head to my well-worn yogitoes.  I love the way I feel rung out, rinsed and revitalized.  Rinse, lather, repeat.

I love the challenge of the practice, and the triumph I feel when I practice.  I even love the occasional feeling of defeat– I love breaking down so that I can break through.  I love feeling and hearing the breath moving through my body, and I love feeling my heart beating in my toes after igniting my body in a back-bending series. I love the seduction of the mat.

I love LOVING my practice.  No one can take this from me.  It is mine.  The more I share it, the more I get back.  It is one commodity that has no end— it grows exponentially every time I give it away.  Teaching this yoga gives me more that I can explain– it gives me focus and purpose.  It gives me joy.

Allow yoga to enliven your life experiences.  This practice of Baptiste Power Vinyasa is for everyone.  It can be modified for all ages, body types and fitness levels.  Learn to breathe, to experience, and to feel.  The time is now.  Lay your expectations and inhibitions aside and resolve to be a yes.  Welcome adventure, surprise, and yes, even change, because shift happens, whether you swim against the tide or flow gracefully with it.  You can transform yourself and your life on the path to true happiness if you get out of the way.  If not you, then who??  If not now, then when?? The answer to “How?” is “Yes!”  Be a yes.