The gift of not knowing

So I step on the mat and sometimes off not knowing if I'm doing the right thing.   Instead of just diving in, I have to take the time to question what is going on with my body, assessing what I did yesterday, and what is happening today.   Then having all that processed with my fluctuating mind and hopefully I come back to the breath---my guide---moving and flowing with change.  Giving thanks that I recognize I don't know what to do and asking help to step back and get out of the way so I can be taught.

I did three weeks strong with my food and then the last week grew tired of it and ate some things not on the plan.   Woke up this morning thinking and wondering where that disciplined energy goes.  I know there are people who say that we have limits to our willpower but I also know that we build habits good and bad and once it is a habit it takes no willpower.   

I know all week that I was hyper-aware of conflicting nutritional information and I seemed to be questioning what I was doing and talking about it to the people around me.   Looking back I was afraid to submit to what I know works for me.  I need to be willing to not know the complete answer and just follow the best I can.   It is okay for me to question what I'm doing but I need to let the questions fly, keep going, and let it work.  I need to remember the reasons I'm eating this way---to make it easier on my heart!

I had a gift last night.   A relative told me they were doing yoga and what they found different about it  was that they didn't think about work or problems during that hour.   They were also doing Zumba and Spin but yoga was the only class they didn't think about work.   Yoga Chitta Vitti Nirodha!

Yoga Weight Loss Group Training

Dean’s Yoga Weight Loss Group Training

Meets Tuesday and Thursday at 6:45 for 4weeks at the WRAC in Wenatchee, WA 98801

Starting Date: September 17- October 10, 2013

Cost: $79 for the entire session, $20 drop-in

Where:  Gym and Studio

What I know:

Research shows that a regular yoga practice along with a healthy food plan can help achieve weight loss and weight maintenance.   I also know that the commitment to weight loss becomes easier in a supportive community.

You bring:

1.     A compelling reason to lose weight

2.     An openness to follow the program for 4weeks

3.     A desire to be part of a community of like-minded supportive people

What I provide:

1.     A twice-weekly group yoga practice including specific asana (postures) and pranayama (breathing exercises) with a Savasana Meditation focusing on improving your body image and achieving your weight loss goals.

2.     A simple yoga practice you do daily at home.

3.     Guidance for a short meditation practice at home.

What you’ll do:

1.     A fun yoga practice in a group twice a week and an easy, quick practice daily at home.

2.     Pick your own healthy food plan and commit to following it with awareness.

3.     Plan your meals and snacks.

4.     A short daily meditation.

5.     Breathe!

6.     Establish some simple lifestyle habits that increase weight loss and maintenance.

Gentle Yoga Flow

I was asked me to post my basic Gentle Yoga Flow practice. Here it is. Join me tonight at the WRAC at 5:30 if you want to try it out.


Gentle Yoga Flow

1. Starting on the back with knees bent---3 part breath.
2. Move to sitting---6th Chakra clearing
3. Come to all fours for Cat (Valasana) Flow
4. Chakravakasana---On hands and knees--- lifting alternate legs and extending them back---add arms if okay.
5. Balasana---Child’s Pose
6. Slow Ardha Vinyasa 3X---start on all fours (inhale) lower to the floor (exhale), to cobra (inhale), to child’s pose (exhale)
7. Down Dog to standing
8. Easy forward fold (knees slightly bent) Uttanasana
9. Utkatasana (Chair)
10. Warrior Series----I, II, Triangle, Twisting Triangle, Warrior I---repeat on the other side
11. Standing Poses---Tadasana, Parsva Tadasana—side to side, Gurudasana---Eagle, Modified Utthita Pada Gusthasana---standing hands under thigh, Warrior III
12. Slow easy vinyasa to the floor for Salabhasana---modified Locust pose. One arm and leg at a time. Optional both hands and legs
13. Move back to Balasana and Parivritta Balasana
14. Seated Poses starting with supported boat pose, hands on floor behind you---Navasana
15. Janu Sirsasana and then bend the knee for Marichyasana B
16. Baddha Konasana
17. Paschimottanasana
18. Setu Bandhasana---Bridge Pose
19. Dead Bug or Half Shoulder Stand
20. Jathari Parivartanasana---turning around the body
21. Savasana


Namaste,


Dean

Date Night Yoga Tonight

We're getting hot, sweaty, and breathing heavy! Sound like the perfect date? It is happening tonight at the WRAC. I'm leading the class at 6:00 pm in the gym. There will be wine and food afterward.

Here is the practice in case you can't make it.

1. Dirgha Pranayama on your back with knees bent
2. Valasana Kriya
3. Ardha Vinyasa
4. Tadasana---Parsva and Urdhva
5. Surya Namaskara A
6. Surya Namaskara B
7. Banarasana
8. Gurudasana
9. Warrior Series including Warrior III and finishing with Urdhava Prasarita Eka Padasana
10. Vinyasa to Eka Pada Raja Kapotanasana
11. Ardha Dhanurasana to Dhanurasana
12. Makarasana
13. Navasana, Ubhaya Pandangusthasana
14. Vinyasa to Janu Sirsasana, Parivritta Janu Sirsasana, moving up into Ardha Mandalasana---half circle pose
15. Marichyasana A, B
16. Paschimottanasana
17. Baddha Konasana
18. Setu Bandhasana
19. Sarvangasana
20. Halasana
21. Jathari Parivartanasana
22. Savasana



Namaste,

Dean

Doing the same thing and getting different results

We've all heard that the recipe for insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. We're lucky that we already know that yoga is crazy. We do the same thing over and over and over and the truth is we get different results every time we hit the mat. We do Sun Salutations and feel who we are uniquely today---spiritually, physically, emotionally.

I can do the same sequence of poses multiple times a day and the results will never be the same. The truth for me is that we never step in the same river twice. It is always new.

Don't be afraid to do the same practice again and again. It is why we call it practicing. I dreamt of an old piano teacher and it made me remember the frustration of wanting to play all the incredible music that is part of the piano repertory and yet being taught over and over that I would only get better by working minutely on the same pieces of music until they became a part of me. I was changed through this method of practicing and amazingly the music also became something entirely new.


Namaste,


Dean

September!

Where have I been? Busy enjoying the summer but it is time to get into September. Yoga sutra 1:1, "Atha Yoga Anushasanam!" Now begins the study of yoga!

On Tuesday, September 13, at 5:30 pm, I start leading a Basic Yoga Flow practice at the WRAC. It is 40-45 minutes of bliss! The practice moves at a gentler and slower speed than my Power Class but you still get stronger, more flexible, and dump some stress along the way. The asanas and the progression through them will pretty much stay the same from class to class (with maybe a few surprises) so it is a comfortable practice as well.

I'm still teaching Hot Power Yoga at 6:45 pm on Monday and Wednesdays.

If you want a pass for 3 free classes just let me know!

I went to the R.I.P.P.E.D instructor training last weekend. It was a blast! It shot me right out of my comfort zone---always a good thing! The workout is based on high intensity interval training so it MOVES! Take a look at rippedusa.com.

Speaking of ripped, now go read this article by Tim Henriques on steady-state walking---the opposite of high intenisty interval training.

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/get_ripped_get_walking

Greet the day and the new month with a deep breath and gratitude!

Namaste,

Dean

Foundation

Everyone gets back pain, especially Brawny Yogis. There is nothing like kriyas from Down Dog to Up Dog or Weighted Wide-legged Squats to make me say "ouch." So I was eating lunch at Lemolos---excellent vegan sandwich, the Powerhouse, and the vegan tomato soup---and I saw a woman who used to come to the WRAC regularly. She said she'd slowed down because of her back but was reading this book, FOUNDATION by Dr. Eric Goodman and Peter Park and it was helping.

I downloaded the enhanced version an hour later and I've been doing their series of exercises for three weeks. I'm amazed. I'm feeling my posterior chain---calves, ham strings, glutes, and lower back muscles---in a totally different way. I'm moving better and feeling stronger. Don't you love it when that happens?

Go to their website at http://foundationroots.com/home. They've got a video with their Founder exercise. It looks a lot like Utkatasana, Chair/Fierce Pose, but it won't feel the same. I've been teaching people to get their weight back on their heels for years but this takes it home! Pulling your knees back from your toes and over your ankles changes everything.

Even if you don't have back pain, I recommend you get the book and do the exercises. The first series takes about 15 minutes but consider it your morning practice.

Breathe,


Dean

Three Day Weekend

No class on Memorial Day at the WRAC. See you Wednesday night!

I am going to be teaching at Wenatchee Valley College, Fall Quarter, Tuesday nights. I'm looking forward to being back.

Feeling Gomukhasana--Cow Faced Pose. It is going to be the focus of my practice this next week. I'm getting in that baby and holding it---but not my breath. Loving what it does for my exterior hip flexors! I'm starting with 1 minute on each side and then working toward longer holds. I'll just be doing the legs so I can concentrate on keeping both hips lowered and let gravity and my breath do its stuff.

I will follow it up with Ardha Matsyandrasana---Half Lord of the Fishes---to get a really good twist. I'm also perpetually working on opening my shoulders in this pose so I can really get around.

Have a great rest of the weekend. Think of something you are grateful for on your next exhale.

Namaste,

Dean

SQUAT!

You have to do Malasana and you have to do it a lot. This pose is amazing and totally brawny.

In Malasana you surrender to gravity, your hips open, and your back smiles. Do it at least 3 times a day and hold it for as long as you can. Start with 10 breaths. Make sure you let your tailbone sink down and stay in the pose long enough for those hip flexors to feel safe enough to let go.

Here is the link to Yoga Journal (where I got the picture) and explicit instructions for getting into the pose. http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/2472

Breathe and reap the benefits!

Namaste,

Dean

Results

My mantra is do what gets results.

I've lately seen way too many people reading on the on the aerobic machine of their choice for hours on end to lose weight and nothing changes.

Number one on my list of asanas that get results are the Surya Namaskaras. It is no surprise that the Ashtanga series starts with Surya Namaskara A and Surya Namaskara B----5 of each. If that is all that makes up your daily home practice, you are going to get stronger, more flexible, have greater balance, and your mind is going to get quieter.

Salute the sun! Vary the tempo. Go slow and then do some fast. Mix it up. Do them outside. You can take them with you when you travel! Get your breath and body moving and lose yourself in the process.


Namaste,

Dean

Staying with it

You've probably heard that you need to set your intention at the start of your practice. But what if your intention is just to get on your mat and practice?

Since my main daily practice moves really quickly, I'm trying to explore holding poses a lot longer, using gravity to deepen how far I go in poses. I'm using Lucas Rockwell's YOGABODY system. Check it out here:
http://www.yogabodynaturals.com

By the way, it is a great system and makes total sense.

However, knowing what to do is never as difficult as doing it. I've set up all kinds of resistance to adding this practice to my day. I've found that my mind is extremely creative in avoiding what I know will change me.

The first step for me in overcoming my resistance is just noticing it. Then I start knocking off my "whine list." Whine list as in---I'm too tired. I don't have the right timer. There is this tv show I have to watch. I haven't read the paper yet.

All these little distractions need to be dealt with or at least acknowledged and dismissed as stupid. Then I have to step on the mat and get to work.

Seems like nothing but everything.

What are you resisting that would positively change you?

Namaste,

Dean

Beyond Brawny Power Yoga

Check this article out by Zach Gillmann on the Testosterone Nation website.

It is called, YOGA, YES YOGA, FOR BIG BASTARDS.

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/yoga_yes_yoga_for_big_bastards

Zach Gillmann gives his 6 essential poses. He includes Prayer Squat or Malasana as one of his poses. Looks good!

Namaste,

Dean

3 Daily Essential Yoga Poses for February

I've read where there are probably 48,000 yoga poses. Here are my 3 Essential Poses for February. Include these daily in your February practice and be amazed by who you will become by March!

1. Malasana (deep squat)---take your feet out to the edge of your mat and squat. Elbows inside your knees, hands in prayer, and dropping your tailbone to the ground. Breathe deep at least 5 times and push through your heels to stand. Repeat 3 times.

2. Gomukhasana (Cow-faced pose)---while seated, cross one leg over the other. Bottoms of both feet are exposed behind you. Try to stack your knees and get your sit bones to the floor. Breathe deep into your hips and don't worry about your arms. Hold everything but your breath for as long as you can, then come out and do the other side.

3. Vajrasana (Thunderbolt or Zen pose)---get on your knees and sit back on your heels. Hands on thighs. Breathe into those tight quads and feel the release. How about 10 full breaths in this position.

See you at class!

Namaste,

Dean