Inside The Yogis Studio

Q: What are you devoted to? 

A: TRUTH! If yoga is a practice of dissolving the illusion that separates us from truth, then I’m all in. In this brief time that we’re alive in these bodies, I commit wholeheartedly to the dissolution of anything that isn’t truth, pure and simple. The good, the bad and the ugly...bring it!

Q: How does devotion show up for you in your yoga practice?  Off the mat?  When you're teaching? 

A: Devotion shows up at that little fork in the road that presents itself each day on my mat, off the mat and when I have the privilege of guiding others on this path we’re all walking. Should I go this way, or that way? Make this choice or that choice? And when you get quiet enough inside, Truth presents itself and you get to decide anew if you’re devoted to it or not, come what may.

Q: What are your goals as a student in the next year? 

A: The subtle continues to get more and more interesting as I tune ever more closely to what’s going on within and without me. I’m allowing for old opinions to dissolve as I hear new things from my body and my spirit. I want to cultivate my creative spark and relax around my process. I want to face any shame that arises in my practice with a knowing smile and continue to see the humor in it all. The “lila” must be there, the play is essential.

Q: Favorite yoga pose? 

A: It depends on any given day, any sesh on the mat. But Forearm Plank is always a contender. Ardha Chandrasana (half-moon) has been a lover from the very beginning. And I think Bhujapidasana (Arm Pressure Pose) and Bhujangasana (Cobra) are seriously unsung heroes in the pantheon of asanas. 

Q: Yoga pose took longest to master? 

A: I’m proud to say I’m a master of none since I keep discovering little subtleties in the most basic asanas that would prevent me from saying that. But I find all the backbends with shoulder flexion (arms up over your head) like to play hard to get. In the end, we lose them all except savasana so maybe that’s the one to really master!

Q: In your past life, you ... 

A: Pretty sure I was the front woman of a 60’s R&B band.

Q: If you weren't a yoga instructor, what would you be doing instead? 

A: In college I worked in a library and I’ve always said if this yoga thing doesn’t work out, I’d become a librarian. They get to do a lot of detective type research and get to shush people. I love that.

Q: If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, what would it be?

A: Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse. I've read lots of other fabulous books that I'd be hesitant to be without but that was the first book that really shifted my perspective about my Self and life. I read it in high school and love it and quote from it often.

Q: Tell me about someone who has influenced your teaching or your practice? 

A: I have PHENOMENAL real-life teachers in a formal sense whose commitment to their own practice and evolution lights a lamp for me to see so much I would otherwise miss. Shiva Rea, Max Strom, Denise Kaufman, Erich Schiffmann, Cyndi Lee...Most recently what is influencing me is collaborating with other teachers with different styles and passions, watching Meghan Currie’s self-practices on You Tube and Jason Bowman stressing the importance of leisurely pursuits. The teachings are everywhere if you make space.

Q: When/where did you begin to practice yoga?

A: My beginning was practically an accident - back in college at UCSD I was taking an elective Phys Ed course, I think it was even called "Weight Training" and a woman in the class asked our burly teacher if she could begin every class with 10 minutes of yoga. Yoga wasn't even popular yet. And surprisingly, he said yes - and so began my love affair with yoga!

Q: What style of yoga do you currently practice and teach?

A: I call my classes "Integrated Vinyasa" and they are an integration of the dynamic energetics I learned from Shiva Rea's Prana Flow methodology and my own passion for anatomy and alignment as tools for meditation - prana dharana. Both our physical and energetic aspects are explored with emphasis on vitality and appreciation for life and enjoying the evolutionary process. Laughing is integral to that!

Q: What inspires you? 

A: People embracing their evolutionary journey, come what may. I love seeing adults recognize they are not in stasis and can continue discovering, changing and expanding for the rest of their lives. Fearlessness, curiosity and willingness inspire me!!

Q: Outside of yoga, what is your greatest passion? 

A: Hiking, cooking, snowboarding...these are things I love too. But when it comes to passion, as in driving force in my life, it's creating opportunities for people to recognize their power and limitless potential.

Q: What is in your yoga bag? 

A: The key to my scooter, a fat tube of homemade lip balm, my sequencing notebook, my ipod, my wallet and my appetite.

Q: What do you never leave home without? 

A: My sense of humor. Oh, and my sunglasses. I have sensitive eye balls.

To Rock Or Not To Rock? That Is The Question...

To Rock Or Not To Rock? That Is The Question...

I recently practiced yoga at a studio whose lineage dictates no music in class. From what I understand, the feeling is that music during asana will take the student out of the embodied experience of asana and into the music. This question of music or no music in class is by no means a new question. But this recent adamant rejection of music got me thinking anew.

There are the "purists" who believe that since music and props weren't used 5000 years ago, they shouldn't be used in classes today. Never mind that what we're practicing today looks nothing like a yoga practice of 5000 years ago which didn't include asana anyway. In fact, by that same rationale, women shouldn't be allowed to practice and men should wear langoutis (lovely cotton loincloths). And never mind that the people practicing yoga  5000 years ago didn't have chairs and f*cked up backs and computers and cars and cell phones and.....oh, pardon me while I digress.

Loincloths. Yumzers.

And on the other end of the spectrum, we have the yoga teacher DJ that busts out killer playlists of contemporary music for you to get your rocksasanas off. Start to finish feels like your in da club, barefoot and sweating like a moose. (do moose even sweat? that's probably not fair to moose. meese? i'm digressing again). Music is part of the SCENE and it attracts a certain youthful clientele. And you get to feel a little bit like Diddy, large and in charge of this par-tay!

Urdhva Dhanuwickiwickiasana

The yoga most of us are practicing these days has it's roots in the Krishnamacharya lineage. And suffice to say, Krishnamacharya and friends weren't likely kickin' out the jams during their practice time. And if you've ever been to a class that plays all contemporary/pop/hip-hop/rock music, you're bound to have hit a day where some song(s) takes you wayyyyy out of your practice and into aversion (please just say no to Katy Perry or Flowbots). Unless it's your own play list, there's just no way you're going to get into everything the teacher selects. And sometimes it's that song that reminds you of something you were doing while it was popular and then you're off on some mental tangent about the U2 show in 1987 and the boyfriend you had and where did that all go wrong anyway?  And, I'm just going to say it - I can't take a class that is non-stop kirtan. Love me some kirtan, really. But I love it when I'm at a kirtan. Krishna Das, bless his ever-loving heart, has a magnificent voice. But after listening to it too much in class, it starts to sound weird to me, like looking at a face upside down does when you stare at it too long. (try it if you don't know what I mean). And the high-pitched response team starts to sound silly and I want to mock them. Then on top of all this, the teacher is saying things. Like, trying to teach us something. And it's real, real hard to compete with Bassnectar for subtle cues. I can't hear and I start getting pissed. Maybe this is just me, just sayin'. So on the one hand, I totally, wholeheartedly agree with the purists. No music!

BUT I thought this was supposed to be a practice of liberation, right? Through the practice we are liberated from ordinary consciousness into extraordinary consciousness, yes? And in that way, music helps a lot of people. Music, reduced way down, is vibration. And vibration is the necessary pre-cursor to change, transformation. When music interacts with your cells, it seems to me that a liberation of body, both physical and energetic, becomes possible. Some yogis have to wear pantyhose and heels or suits and ties and sit inside cubicles all day. The idea of blasting their cells with a little vibration seems helpful as they shift from the work sadhana to the extraordinary consciousness we practice on our mats.

I remember a moment, back in 2001 taking a class with my first teacher, Max Strom, and he chose music exquisitely. (It doesn't hurt that he was a musician prior to teaching yoga.) He matched a movement we were doing so perfectly to the music that was on, it sent me soaring into extraordinary consciousness. It was Moby's "Everloving" by the way, in case you're wondering. That one moment of perfect union (of many) expanded my view of myself, the world, every damn thing. So it CAN work.

The conclusion I've come to on the music issue is that the worst thing is either not using music just because you're "not supposed to" or using it because it makes you seem fun and attractive. Music is just too exquisite to treat like that, in either case. And for that matter, so is our yoga practice.

For the record, I self-practice and teach public classes with music - I try to choose wisely, matching the music to the bhava, or feeling state, of the asana family or sequence we're in. Rather than just blast random music that's fun to listen to, I try to practice that art of finding the right music for the right movement like my teachers Max and Shiva Rea have taught me. And it takes forever to make playlists when you take this mindful approach. What I come up with is certainly not perfect, there are some songs that get me off like nobody's business and I don't think everybody is feelin' it, and you know that right away and learn from it. But the point is, I use and try to choose music very intentionally to elicit a certain freedom from the ordinary. It's not just about the partay.

What do you think?