Author: Sharon

Politics, Yoga & Pittsburgh

September 21, 2009
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Do you know about Peaceburgh?  As defined on its homepage, it is “A site for networking and celebrating wholeness, oneness and peace in Pittsburgh and around the globe. Hosted by Sven Hosford.”  If you are interested, check it out here: http://peaceburgh.ning.com/

I mention this site now because it includes information on many peaceful ways to support world leaders participating in the G-20 (and those who aren’t) in committing their power and determination to find solutions to some of the considerable challenges facing so many humans that our humanity seems to be at stake.  If you are interesting in joining groups of individuals in Pittsburgh who are committed to peace and globalized compassion—then check it out!

There is a Chinese proverb that roughly translates to: If you are patient in a moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.  During the G-20, I recommend that Pittsburgh take this proverb as an inspiration for mindful respsonse to any frustrations, delays or challenges that may occur.  As the world comes to us, we are reminded that we are part of a whole.  It is our responsibility to give space and respect to those individuals who have dedicated their lives to public service.  We may not agree with them, but I think that we can all agree that there’s nothing easy about leadership.  I don’t even like to agree to be in charge of a bake sale at my son’s school—–never mind being responsible for two wars, the economy, national healthcare reform, and making sure that my every action is a representation of the millions of people that call me President. 

This week, as Pittsburgh hosts the G-20, our yoga in Pittsburgh is patience, compassion and a certain amount of dreaming.  I dream of what would happen if these leaders were inspired to be creative about issues related to quality of life for citizens of the world.  Pittsburgh has historically been a place where great people have done great things—the Fricks, the Mellons, the Carnegies.  It has also been and continues to be a place where thousands upon thousands of creative artists, hard working people, gifted teachers, compassionate doctors and midwives and medical professionals, yogis, landscape artists, restoration specialists, carpenters———take pride in their work, their families and their neighborhoods and make Pittsburgh such a special place to be.  The G-20 is not being hosted here by accident!

Let us practice our G-20 yoga Pittsburgh!  Believe in the power of Pittsburgh and act to support leaders in making decisions based on strength of the commitments they have already made to dedicate their lives to public service.  Inspire leaders through peace and send light to the world from our little city that has given so much innovation, hope and opportunity to the world already.

Posted by Sharon Rudyk
Owner & Director, Yoga Matrika
https://www.yogamatrika.com/

YOGA MATRIKA is open for the entire G-20 Summit.  The full schedule for this week can be found here:

This Week’s Schedule: http://dharmatribeonline.com/matrika/index.php?tab=week&offset=1

Purchase your class card here: https://dharmatribeonline.com//matrika/index.php?tab=3

Zen Sitting Group of Pittsburgh

September 19, 2009
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Update 4/16/12:
Please note that the Zen Sitting Group of Pittsburgh no longer exists as the leader has moved away from Pittsburgh.  This is an older post from 2009.

 

The Zen Sitting Group of Pittsburgh (ZSGP) meets at Yoga Matrika  on alternate Sundays.  Please see the schedule and more information about ZSGP below.  

What is ZSGP?  What is Zen practice? Who can participate? 

The Zen Sitting Group of Pittsburgh (ZSGP) is a member of the Society of Mountains and Rivers (SMR), a network of Zen Buddhist sitting groups and affiliates of the Mountains and Rivers Order (MRO). The MRO’s spiritual founder and director is John Daido Loori Roshi, abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery in upstate New York. WWW.MRO.ORG

 Zen practice can help us to wake up to who we are and to live out of that understanding. The questions that we take up during the course of our practice are the questions of our human existence: What is life? What is death? How can we truly be alive and live and die in a way that is real and fulfilling?

 The door of ZSGP is open to anyone wanting to enter deeply into these questions. Newcomers and experienced practitioners are welcome. Beginning instruction in zazen (sitting meditation) will be offered at each sitting for those attending ZSGP for the first time. If you are attending the ZSGP for the first time, please call head to arrange beginning instruction on your visit.

Suggested Donation is $5. No one is turned away for lack of ability to donate. All donations are used to cover the cost of the use of the sitting space.

 Sitting Schedule

 We meet on alternating Sundays starting from  9:30 AM-11:30AM at Yoga Matrika located at 6520 Wilkins Avenue in Squirrel Hill (closest intersection is Beechwood and Wilkins and the space is next to WHEEL DELIVER)  for zazen and a liturgy service. On the second Sunday of each month there will also be a senior’s talk by the group leader, Hogen Green. These talks on the Dharma will focus primarily on the relationship of Zen practice to daily life.

 Autumn Schedule:

Sunday August 23: Liturgy, Zazen, Senior’s talk By Ron Hogen Green
Sunday, September 6: Liturgy, Zazen
Sunday, September 20: Liturgy, Zazen, Senior’s Talk
Sunday, October 4: Liturgy, Zazen
Sunday, October 18: Liturgy, Zazen, Senior’s Talk
Sunday, November 8: Liturgy, Zazen
Sunday, November 15: Liturgy, Zazen
Sunday, November 29: Liturgy, Zazen, Senior’s Talk

 

zensittinggroupThe group’s leader, Ron Hogen Green, MRO, is a senior lay student of John Daido Loori Roshi, abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery. Hogen studied Zen with Roshi Philip Kapleau between 1978 and 1991, then became a student of Daido Roshi in the Mountains and Rivers Order that same year. Hogen was in full-time residential training at Zen Mountain Monastery from 1995 until 2007, serving as a senior monastic. He lives in Pittsburgh with his wife Cindy Eiho Green.

 Contact the Zen Sitting Group of Pittsbugh:

Ron Hogen Green

Hogen@dharma.net

Tel.  (412) 421-5176 

 Resources

 Training in the MRO: http://www.mro.org/zmm/training/

Lay and monastic training in one of the West’s most established Zen Buddhist lineages

 
Meditation Instruction: http://www.mro.org/zmm/teachings/meditation.php

Clear, simple instructions in zazen (sitting meditation), the core of all Zen Buddhist practice

 

Retreats and Programs At Zen Mountain Monastery: http://www.mro.org/zmm/retreats/

Register online for weekend introductory retreats, week-long intensives and more

 

Monastery Store: http://www.dharma.net/monstore/

The Monastery Store is the online catalog of Dharma Communications, offering meditation supplies in the form of sitting cushions, books, audio and audio-visual teachings and altar supplies. The Monastery Store mission is to support home practice.

 

Mountain Record: The Zen Practitioners’ Journal is a quarterly published by Dharma Communications http://www.mro.org/mr/mountainrecord.html

For the last twenty-seven years, Mountain Record has offered powerful teachings of realized Buddhism from masters East and West, past and present, as well as essays, poetry, media reviews and art.

 

WZEN Web Radio: http://www.wzen.org/

WZEN is an original webcast produced at Zen Mountain Monastery, including discourses by Abbot John Daido Loori, Roshi, and talks by the teachers of the MRO, as well as a diversity of other programming relating to a life of spiritual practice.


Dharma Communications: http://www.dharma.net/

The educational outreach arm of the MRO, DC presents Zen teachings in a range of media

Intuitive Health: Yoga for your Spirit

September 18, 2009
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Kari Samuels will be leading a series of workshops titled Intuitive Health at Yoga Matrika in October and November.

Intuitive Health: Balancing your Body, Mind and Spirit

We are all born with an intuitive awareness that guides us, protects us, and helps us make purposeful decisions.  Through subtle messages from our body and our circumstances, our inner guidance communicates with us, leaading us towards our natural state of joy, vitality, and self-esteem.  This fun, interactive class offers tools for transforming your life form the inside out.  You will learn how to increase your positive energy, reclaim your power, and start living the prosperous healthy life you deserve.

October 21: Listening to your Body’s Wisdom
Every day you are receiving messages from your body that guide you towards your personal truth.  In this workshop, you will learn now to listen to those subtle messages, so you can make empowering choices for your body and your life.

October 28: Mapping Your Inner Landscape
In this dynamic interactive class, you will explore your sacred architecture–the seven major energy centers of the body (chakras) and the human energy field, otherwise known as the aura.  We will explore the many ways that your body reveals your personal blueprint, and ways you can create lasting change in your life through balancing your energy.

November 4: Positive Energy
Our outer world is a reflection of our internal reality.  When we learn how to heal our fears and limitations, we can create more peaceful harmonious circumstances.  This class offers practical techniques towards growth, healing and love.  Practiced daily, these techniques will result in more joy, vitality, passion, and purpose.

November 11: The Energy of Relationships
We can attract and maintain healthy relationships when we understand the energy dynamics that transpire between ourselves and others.   Through meditation and exercises, you will learn how to protect yourself against energy drains, create healthy boundaries, and live more compassionately towards yourself and others.

Register for workshops here: http://dharmatribeonline.com/matrika/index.php?tab=2

Find out more about Kari Samuels here: http://www.karisamuels.com/index.html

Posted by Sharon Fennimore Rudyk
Owner and Director of Yoga Matrika in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
https://www.yogamatrika.com/

Lose Weight with Yoga

September 14, 2009
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No diet will remove all the fat from your body because the brain is entirely fat.  Without a brain, you might look good, but all you could do is run for public office.
         GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

One of the most common questions that people ask me about yoga is if they can lose weight doing it.  The truth is that I’m never sure how to respond.  On the one hand, doing yoga is really inspiring—–you feel so good that you don’t want to ruin it with food that doesn’t provide energy and nutrition!  It’s amazing, but you will find that you automatically start making “better” food choices when you have a regular yoga practice.  And, yes, yoga is a physical activity that requires movement, breathing and calories are probably spent.  I actually gained some weight when I first started doing yoga.  I wasn’t sure about it, but my wise and trusted yoga instructor saw me wondering at myself in the studio mirror and said, “Your hair looks beautiful long like that Sharon and, you know, you’ve gained some weight and it’s nice on you.  It happens to everyone.  You start doing yoga and you come into balance.  If you need to lose weight, then it is released.  If you need to gain some, then it is increased.”  The man knew how to say things like this and walk away–quick.  You know, before you could figure out if you just received a compliment or not.

Those were my Diet Coke days—I was writing and translating Classical Chinese and staying up all hours.  Sleeping in my clothes. My favorite food group was aspartame.  What happened was that, doing yoga, I got hungry for food solids and found myself eating more regularly and exploring different types of foods and seeing how they made me feel in my practice.  Also, I was exhausted, so I’d sleep rather than consume another litre of my midnight elixir.  I never finished that degree, but I’m still doing yoga.

Every now and again, you’ll see a diet soda can in the garbage at Yoga Matrika.  I’ll admit, it’s mine.  Everyone needs a vice!

Stay lean and mean Matrikas!

Written by Sharon Rudyk
Owner and Director, Yoga Matrika
Located in Pittsburgh, PA
https://www.yogamatrika.com/

Insomnia

September 14, 2009
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Charles M. Shulz once said, “Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, ‘Where have I gone wrong?’  Then a voice says to me, ‘This is going to take more than one night.'” 

If you gave at least a little chuckle after reading this quote, then you may be interested in some yoga techniques for managing insomnia.  If you didn’t give a chuckle, then you may not have any trouble sleeping, but you could probably benefit from some yoga (or a better sense of humour!). 

Here is a very simple activity that you can do about 30-minutes before you’d like to be asleep:

1) Do a very slow-paced sun salutation holding each pose for a minimum of five full breaths (one in-breath and one out-breath equal a full breath).

2) Come into a wide knee child’s pose (3-5 minutes)

3) Come into a seated forward bend: take the flesh out from underneath your sitting bones and keep a pillow under your knees for comfort and so you can rest your belly on your thighs.  Do minimal work, but stretch the tension of the day from the strong muscles in the backs of your legs. (3-5 minutes)

4) Take your legs up the wall or just lie on your back with your legs up on a chair or couch (knees are bent and your calf muscles and feet are supported by the chair) (3-5 minutes)

Finally, lie in bed on your back with your arms by your sides and your palms facing up.  Let your toes and feet relax out to the side.  Starting with your toes, relax your entire body part by part.  You can get fancy and include your organs, or you can just stick with the basics.  No matter what, go slow and really bring your mind’s eye into each part of the body as you feel it get heavier and completely relaxed.

If you are still awake, then you may want to just lie there, not trying to fall asleep, but watching your breath move through your body.  Instead of thinking about the day, tasks ahead, deadlines, forgotten things—just watch your breath and see your body moving.

Still awake?  You may need an insomnia book.  An insomnia book is one that you really want to read, but it’s dense and allows you to get sleepy as you immerse yourself in the rich description, theoretical ramblings or deep narrative.  Here’s my personal favorite: Ian Baker, The Heart of the World: A Journey to Tibet’s Lost Paradise.  2004: Penguin Books.  Seriously, this is a beautiful and amazing book and one that I have not been able to complete in about 4-years of trying.  I get lost in the fantasy, the possibilities, the mountains and all of a sudden it is all I can do to keep my heavy eyelids open long enough to find the light switch.  Mr. Baker, if you read this, please accept the compliment!  Your lovely book puts me to sleep—in a GOOD way.

Good night Pittsburgh Yogis!  Sweet dreams.

Written by Sharon Rudyk
Owner and Director of Yoga Matrika
Located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
https://www.yogamatrika.com/

Qigong and Yoga: What is Zhong Dao?

September 4, 2009
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It’s always a risk to put a class on the schedule that has a name that no one recognizes.  I have taken just this kind of risk by creating Zhong Dao.  But, the name is such a perfect reflection of this combination Qigong Energy work and Yoga class that I just can’t call it by any other name!

First, I think that we can examine what the different elements of the class are for clarity.  One aspect of the practice of Zhong Dao is inspired by Qigong.  Qigong is a system of exercises that allow the practitioner to “learn how to control the flow and distribution of qi to improve the health and harmony of mind and body (Cohen 3).”  What precisely is qi?  Qi (pronounced: chee—as if you were going to say cheese without the “se”) has been translated in many different ways, but one that can be helpful for beginners and is especially appropriate for this context, is that qi is life energy.  Gong means to work.  Qigong is a “wholistic system of self-healing exercise and meditation, an ancient, evolving practice that includes healing posture, movement, self-massage, breathing techniques, and meditation (Cohen 4).”

Second, what is the connection between this Chinese Qigong practice and yoga?  “In India, the life energy, prana, is described as flowing through thousands of subtle-energy veins, the nadis.  One of the goals of Yoga is to accumulate more prana through breath control exercises (pranayama) and physical postures (asana) (Cohen 26).”   One system of Yoga that has incorporated Chinese yin-yang theory is Yin Yoga.  One of Paul Grilley’s students, Sarah Powers, has written a beautiful book called Insight Yoga that shows the Chinese energy patterns (meridians) and yoga asana that activate different energy meridians in the body.

Zhong means middle or center and Dao means path or way.  Therefore, this practice is the middle way and a way to create a sense of balance and ease in the body and mind.  This practice is designed to relieve stress and tension in the body so that there is equilibrium in the spirit, the immune system is supported and optimum health can be maintained.  We do some gentle stretching and energy warm-ups followed by a practice of the Eight Brocades and end every practice session with a healing meditation.

Hope to see you on Saturdays for Zhong Dao at 10:30am!

Here are some excellent references for Yoga and Qigong:

The Way of Qigong: The Art and Science of Chinese Energy Healing.  Written by Kenneth S. Cohen.  Ballantine Books, New York: 1997.

Insight Yoga.  Written by Sarah Powers.  Shambhala Publications, Boston & London: 2008.

Yin Yoga: Outline of a Quiet Practice.  Written by Paul Grilley.  White Cloud Press, Ashland, Oregon: 2002.

Happy Happy,

Sharon Rudyk
Owner and Director, Yoga Matrika
https://www.yogamatrika.com/
http://www.prenatalyogapittsburgh.com

YOGA MATRIKA is located at 6520 Wilkins Avenue in the Squirrel Hill/Point Breeze neighborhoods of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  You can reach Sharon by calling (412) 855-5692.

Yoga Matrika Schedule

August 31, 2009
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Creating a schedule of yoga classes for Yoga Matrika has always provided me with great illumination and inspiration.  When I first opened the little studio on South Negley, I was teaching the majority of classes myself and a number of very talented local instructors generously agreed to teach a few classes each week.  But, for the most part, it was me and there were less than 10-classes on the schedule each week.  The reality of finding talented instructors who were a good match for Yoga Matrika proved to be one of my earliest challenges in this business.

Then, what started to happen was that the Universe started to send me fabulous instructors and many of these teachers have shaped the path of Yoga Matrika.  For example, Heidi —–an angel who took over at the studio without any guidance when I needed to travel for my grandmother’s funeral.  And Julie who became one of the community’s favorite prenatal instructors after agreeing to take some of my own classes without very much guidance or support.  And Bethany, who inspired me to stay with my prenatal passions even when I was feeling open to letting go of these programs all together.  The list of instructors who have gently, and sometimes not so gently, shaped my experience and the growth of Yoga Matrika is long.

This autumn, the new schedule that starts on September 1st, is one that I am incredibly proud to offer to the community.  There are over 27-drop in class options each week including four prenatal yoga classes and three class options for postnatal moms.  Every single instructor on the schedule is accomplished and dedicated to the profession of yoga and sharing what they have to offer with the Yoga Matrika community.  It is the most comprehensive class schedule that Yoga Matrika has ever offered.

In addition to theese 27-drop in classes, Yoga Matrika offers series of classes that provide opportunities for deep study in an intimate setting with some of Pittsburgh’s most talented and diverse instructors.  Workshops are scheduled with Lisa Clark (EmbodiYoga) and KK Ledford (Anusara) and Yoga Matrika offers the only prenatal yoga teacher training program in Western Pennsylvania.

I’m delighted to start this new season and I hope that you will find a class or two (or three!) that work with your schedule and offer the style and pace of yoga or pilates that you desire so that you can join me in supporting this fabulous team and comprehensive schedule.

August Sound Yoga

August 25, 2009
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Last night, as I listened to the sounds of insects singing outside my open August window, I exclaimed my profound love for the night sounds of this month in Pittsburgh.  I have been reading a lot about sound yoga and thinking about ways to include sound and chanting in my practice and teaching on a more regular basis.  Listening to these beautiful night sounds that are so very unique to the end of summer, I felt a sensation of hope wash across my forehead and through my throat and heart. 

Please join me in an exercise in sound yoga!

At some point in your day or night, make a commitment to taking 15-minutes to soften your ears into your environment and experience sound vibration.  See where the sound vibrates the most and notice the quality of your breath as you listen.  Soften your jaw and relax the muscles and bones of your face.  Without judgement, let the sounds enter you.  Listen without hearing and hear without listening.  Notice if you start to build attachment to any particular sound or aversion to another and see if you can return to an open experience of sound without judgement.

Be a vessel for the end of summer vibrations.

Enjoy!

Pain and Yoga

July 15, 2009
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In Leboyer’s classic book of yoga for pregnant women, Inner Beauty, Inner Light, he includes an interesting analysis of how pain during practice should be treated.  Pregnant or not, this analysis applies to all yoga practitioners and provides a way of thinking about pain that is respectful and safe.

“Pain is nothing but a message, an alarm bell.  What will you do when the alarm bell starts ringing?  Will you sit there?  Will you say: ‘This bell is terrible.  But one has to be courageous, to endure.’  Will you not rather go and see why it is ringing?”  (page 49)

Yoga practice is a process of never ending discovery.  Each time that we move our bodies into an asana, it will feel different, look different and act different.  It is this mindful practice on our mat that provides us with a map for understanding our reactions, thoughts and way of moving through the world off the mat. 

Yoga practice should not be painful or cause injury.  Our practice should provide us with experiences that inform us about what we do all the time, but perhaps have never invested the attention to discover these truths.  This way, we start to notice small things about our experience—-Is our breath more shallow when our boss is in the room?  What does our energy feel like after a milkshake?  What does our morning coffee taste like?  Perhaps we notice a rise of energy when we are angry or a softening of the hips and thighs when we talk to our child?  Maybe the opposite.  There is no wrong or right.  We just notice.

Enjoy your practice.  Be safe and feel good.  Really GOOD.

Guide for the Advanced Soul

July 14, 2009
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I once had a roommate in New York that I never met. 

It’s a sort of complicated story and one that wouldn’t be all that interesting to repeat.  Suffice to say, I am now the owner of two of his left behind belongings that have changed my life.  One, is a pink crystal ball.  Seriously.  And, fortunately for you patient reader, not the topic of this essay!

The second, is a small book titled, A Guide for the Advanced Soul: A Book of Insight.  It is created and handwritten by Susan Hayward and published by Little, Brown and Company in 1984.  The intention for the book is that you use it as a guide when you have a problem or need guidance to help you make your decision.  After a brief period of meditation, you put forward your request to the universe and randomly open the book.  The guide’s instructions indicate that, “The first words you read will tell you what you most need to hear.”

Even the instructions are of interest to me.  They are interesting because they draw upon our ability to read something powerful and feel as though we have been told something or had it whispered to us or that we’ve used our ears to absorb something.  That’s how powerful the meaning of the words on the page are to us.  So powerful that as we read them, even as we use our eyes to scan the page, the part of our brain that listens—hears something.  This, as the instructions to the guide suggest, is intimately attached to the meditation before the reading.  It is the meditation that stills the mind and allows for us to access our intuition.  It is the intuitive self that reads the words and is able to make sounds of them.

I am particularly attached to “my” copy of the book because my roommate, whoever he is and wherever he is now, folded down the corners of some pages.  The pages that were speaking to him loud and clear.  Perhaps the very pages that told him that returning to New York, even to retrieve his belongings, wasn’t the right thing to do.  Sometimes, I cheat.  I don’t follow the directions.  I just open the book to the quotes chosen by its previous owner:

“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”  ~Albert Einstein

“To change one’s life: 
* Start immediately
* Do it flamboyantly
* No exceptions (no excuses)”
~William James

“Man cannot discover new oceans until he has courage to lose sight of the shore.” ~ Unknown

Sometimes, yoga classes turn out to be our guide.  We just feel a little stuck and we need a class, so we just go to whatever is on the schedule and are disappointed to find out that it’s a different teacher than who we expected.  After class, we realize that this particular instructor met our need uniquely well.  That their words, style and tone were precisely what was required to advance in our practice, be creative about a project, to return home to wrestle the kids to bed………Or, maybe you’ve recently found a new teacher that is working just right for you now.  That’s just like folding down the pages.