Tag: Practice

Yoga Works

December 10, 2009
Posted by Sharon
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I’m just about as committed, or perhaps even MORE committed,  to the “Why?” as anyone.  I think it’s a rather good question to be asked about anything from WHY is the Nobel peace prize winner suggesting that we increase our war activities to WHY do Pittsburghers call sprinkles, “jimmies”.  Or, the yoga owner gasps, WHY should anyone do yoga?  Just as committed as I am to the WHY, I’m simply frustrated at the infinite number of things that I can’t seem to comprehend or the number of WHY questions that I can’t get a satisfactory answer to.  Will someone just give me the satisfaction of a BECAUSE… every once in a while? 

If there is one thing that I know to be true and that is that YOGA WORKS.  I mean, it works for EVERYONE—children, moms, men, women, older people, teens, injured and sick, athletic and healthy, flexible, idiots and genius alike (generally subjective measurements anyway!)—–yoga works in all cases and without exception.  Why?  I have no idea!  I’m relatively convinced that any answer is only the beginning of an answer or even a fraction of the answer.  I don’t care if you got this answer by measuring brain activity, hormone levels, blood chemicals, stress level, decrease in headaches, reported relationship satisfaction, increased fertility, etc.  However you get your answer to the why of yoga, it’s only part of the story. The most terrifying thing about this kind of inquiry is that I wonder how many questions I have asked and found an answer to that I really only know the fraction of—maybe WHY just isn’t the right question and every BECAUSE is merely a PERHAPS in disguise?

I can think of two reasons why yoga decreases stress, makes us feel stronger and lighter and gives us energy and a feeling of bliss and joy:
1) We are moving in the most honest of ways and using our body to express, explore and respond to the environment around us instead of privileging the BRAIN and simply dragging the body around as a useful, but mostly frustrating appendage.  So many people tell me that they can’t do yoga because they aren’t flexible or because they aren’t “the type.”  If yoga was about touching your toes, then I can assure you gentle reader that 20 million Americans wouldn’t be doing yoga!  And, I might ask, who is the yoga type and how do you know it doesn’t apply to you if you never try?  As you are reading this, I happen to know that you are a live human and you have a body.  This being the case, you are, in fact, just the right “type” for yoga.  All you need is to be breathing and have a body and yoga will work for you!

2) Yoga is a vacation.  When you practice yoga, you lighten your load—you slow down the breath, you take off your shoes and socks, you notice sensations in your body and you shut up.  I don’t mean that you just stop talking.  I mean that you stop talking, people stop talking to you and you can finally hear yourself think.  For beginners, this is a terrifying moment because when you hear yourself think for the first time you can be overwhelmed to discover just how many thoughts you are having every minute or even every second.  This flood of thoughts, ideas, feelings, desires, stories and much more just flood over you and once you become aware of this you start to say, “THINKING” and return your awareness to your breath.  Ahhh—now isn’t that delightful?  It’s not something you can say to your boss–right?  Boss sticks her head in your cubicle and starts talking really fast about some immediate emergency double secret deadline and you can’t just say, “THINKING” and turn away!  But in yoga, you even get a vacation from yourself and all the trappings and trimmings you have determined as elements of that self.  You lighten your load by slowing down, removing obstacles to calm and getting out of your own way.  You CAN say to yourself, “THINKING.”

So try a yoga class and move your body and breathe and, well, get out of your own way! 

Posted by Sharon Rudyk, Owner and Director of Yoga Matrika (https://www.yogamatrika.com/) and Prenatal Yoga Pittsburgh (http://www.prenatalyogapittsburgh.com) in Point Breeze, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15217. 

I’d like to give an appropriate reference to Pema Chodron, a most wonderful writer and teacher who suggests the concept of saying “Thinking” to yourself during meditation when you start to lose your focus or awareness.  My personal favorite Pema Chodron title is, “The Wisdom of No Escape,” but you can try any title for excellent meditation information and practical advice and instruction.

Yoga & Pittsburgh Rain

September 30, 2009
Posted by Sharon
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I can’t help but notice that, when it rains, less people come to yoga classes.  There’s something about the damp, grey and chilly weather that re-directs intentions and leads people to their home destination rather than to the studio or their mat.  Rather than write this to make all of you who have been skipping your yoga classes in Pittsburgh for the past couple of rainy days feel guilty, I am writing this because it has inspired me to think about yoga practice as a way of grounding and coming home that provides the same comfort as skipping school and cuddling with your cat instead.

When we feel this need to “go home,”  there are ways to shift our practice so that we create an embrace of asana and breath that warms the heart-mind and body.  First, honor your mat.  Make a ritual of your practice and have placing your mat on the earth as one of the elements of that ritual.  Your mat becomes the sacred place where you can explore the embrace of spirit and mindfulness.  When you take your seat and you want to set a cozy tone for your practice, make it a soft seat.  You can do this by placing a cushion under your sitting bones and blankets under your ankles and knees.  If you are in a cooler space, drape a shawl or light blanket over your shoulders. 

Start your practice with a heart warming chant of the seed syllable “Hung.”  First, watch your breath and then, as you deepen the breath, sing “Hung” using your diaphragm muscles and slowly allowing the vibration to ease tension in your heart.  You can chant this syllable for as long as you like, just repeating it over and over again.  Notice where you feel the sound vibrations and give yourself a few minutes after you are done to feel the differences in your body and the quality of your thoughts and breath.

Finally, give yourself permission to stretch and open to movement in your practice in a more organic way.  Not sure where to start, get on your hands and knees and so a few cat/cow and see where the spirit moves you.  Perhaps, you will want to move into some seated stretches or maybe a series of heart opening back bends?  Maybe you will come into downward facing dog and move through a series of lunges and warrior poses.  Maybe you will realise that what you really need is to take your legs up the wall and daydream!  Whatever it is, keep the cozy intentions of your practice and make yourself feel at home.

Cheer up Pittsburgh! 

Posted by Sharon Rudyk
Owner and Director of Yoga Matrika
https://www.yogamatrika.com/

Qigong and Yoga: What is Zhong Dao?

September 4, 2009
Posted by Sharon
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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.

Guide for the Advanced Soul

July 14, 2009
Posted by Sharon
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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.

Krishna Das in the BURGH!

April 9, 2009
Posted by Sharon
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I just wanted to send a shout out to HarmoniZing Pittsburgh for organizing a performance of devotional chanting by Krishna Das here in Pittsburgh.  You can purchase a ticket online for the April 27, 7:00pm performance in Oakland by going to http://www.krishnadas.com or in person at Journeys of Life in Shadyside.

Please consider going to see Krishna Das live—-it’s just FABULOUS!

Dance

September 18, 2008
Posted by Sharon
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While I have always harbored a love of dance and desire to move with grace and agility, my body has not been the most cooperative vehicle for bringing this love into fruition.  I love it, but I can’t seem to get it right.  I know this about myself and this awareness has served me well.  Once, I went out on a date with a (seemingly) wonderful man who suggested that, on our next date, we go swing dancing.  I confidently swung my hair aside and smiled to say that I thought it would be fabulous.  Inside, I was already frantic thinking about how I could learn how to swing dance in time for whenever this next date would be.  The next morning, I had already signed-up for swing dance lessons and went every night that week to a local club that offered nightly lessons and live music.  As Mr. Wonderful never called me again, it turns out that I had an infinite amount of time to learn, but my fear of even the possibility of dancing led me to an immediate obsession with the task.  The good news is that I learned to swing dance and enjoyed many fabulous nights of music and movement.   The bad news is that I never again met a man that wanted anything more than a second date who thought swing dancing was more fun than a root canal. 

All this to say that I love dancing.  So, this fall, I decided to add some dance inspired classes to the Yoga Matrika schedule.  Mindful movement is therapeutic and Yoga Matrika is delighted to offer a Thursday morning Yoga Booty Ballet class with Aleta and a Thursday afternoon Yoga Inspired Modern Dance class with Mercedes.  Get your body moving, heart pumping and limbs shaking and expand your idea of what is possible with your body and mind.  Try these new classes and let these new skills inspire your practice.  You never know what a little dance might bring into your life!

Yoga for the Wind

September 15, 2008
Posted by Sharon
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Wasn’t that wind storm beautiful?  Perhaps, if you were one of the Pittsburgher’s whose car was crushed by a falling tree you might not be able to appreciate the beauty of it just yet,  but for the rest of us it was a powerful, sensual and dynamic experience.  No rain, lightning, hail.  Just wind blowing over 35 miles per hour for over four hours in a row with gusts up to 60 miles per hour thrown in for gusto.

Yoga has many powerful connections with wind.  First, and perhaps the most obvious, is the wind of breath.  We take the wind of breath in through our nose or mouth and it fuels our bodies with oxygen.  Depending on our breathing pattern we can communicate various messages to our brain through our central nervous system.  As the breath moves through our bodies we use the internal architecture and organs of the body to accept the winds, move them to the available spaces and take the excess to appropriate avenues of escape.  Another, somewhat less obvious connection to yoga(unless you have a ‘thing’ for potty humor or happen to be living with a 3rd grader), are the winds of our digestive system.  There’s even a pose called “wind relieving posture” which has been known to massage some winds from a few student’s bellies.  While the sound of the escape of these winds through burps and farts (yes, farts are part of yoga too) may cause some embarassment to the yogi, their release creates space and ease in the digestive system.

Finally, we have the winds of the internal energy of the body.  Have you ever been really angry?  (If the answer is no, then I’m SUPER excited and honored to have you, the Dalai Lama reading my blog!)  Your anger might have risen from your belly your heart and you felt the need to amplify your voice to allow the energy of this angry wind escape through your mouth on the vehicle of your words.  Illness and health is viewed through many healing traditions as management of the internal winds of the body. 

So, today, allow wind to be a part of your yoga.  Try inhaling and exhaling through your nose as you allow your shoulders to drop away from your ears.  Listen to the sound of your breath.  Close your eyes for a moment and look at your internal weather system.  Belly full of wind?  Heart full of wind? Have all the winds become so sedate that you can’t fly your soul kite today?  Whatever your wind status, just spending a few moments to breathe and look at your internal weather might bring you insight and relief.  And, if a tree did fall on your car last night, it will give you something to do as you call your insurance company and get placed on eternal hold.