Yogafly2

The Yoga of Self-Healing

The Yoga of Self-Healing is mostly about the popular four letter F-word - Food.   As a Hedonist - not in any gluttonous sort of way - but in the "I love things that make my 5 senses go YUM" way - I have a very strong need for Great Food.  So I have a personal Natural Chef - who cooks a whole week's worth of food for me every other week that fits my Ayurvedic constitution.  

My Ayurvedic constitution is Vata-Pitta-Kapha.  In that order.  V 1. Air --- P 2. Fire--- K 3. Earth.  And when you look at percentages - my Air and Fire quantities are nearly equal.  And I score super way low low low on the Earth Kapha level - which means I have to do a LOT (of good eating) in order not to be Hot and in Outer space, Etheric realms and on the Earth with the rest of us. 

And the deal is, this Yogini, admittedly, does not LOVE being in the kitchen cooking.  I am learning how to LOVE being in the kitchen cooking - because it is part of what makes life Beautiful, but I get a little impatient around fire.  As they say, "if you can't stand fire, then stay out of the kitchen."  And if I don't have the time to cook my food well - with love and attention-  I mostly end up throwing out everything I cook.  You see, my taste buds are hedonistically inclined towards gastronomic bliss.  Smile.

All of the above is to explain why I have a personal Natural chef - Brian Henderson.  You can reach him at bhendu@gmail.com.  I highly recommend him.  He studied at The Natural Epicurean here in Austin and my buddy and Ayurvedic practitioner, Kerry Meath of Timeless Health Solutions, helped teach him principles of Ayurveda and cooking and recommended him to me.  

This Thanksgiving, I had the divine pleasure of celebrating my dad's 76th birthday with him and my mom - who is a physician.  To my utter delight, they are now mostly vegetarian - and have cut down sugars and manufactured foods out of their diet.  And they are vibrant because of this change in diet.  It's lovely to see.  My mom showered me with all the books she is reading on a doctor's favorite topic - health and healing - and the gist that I got from each of the following books is this:  what you eat will either nourish you or kill you. 

So yes, as Steve Prenzlauer, a medical doctor himself and practitioner of Ayurveda, commented on my Facebook page - Ayurveda figured this out a long time ago, 5000 years ago or more.  Ramana Maharshi - the great enlightened sage of Arunachala, Tirunvamalai, India - did say that one should watch the company one keeps and the food one eats.  Watch what you are eating and who you are eating this food with.  It will be telling of your state of consciousness.  Fascinating stuff.  But really quite simple.  Really.  Exercise fits in with this.  The truth of the matter is, those who watch what they eat are more likely to exercise.  

Here are some sources including books, many by M.D.'s who get the importance of Food for Self-Healing:

Ayurveda  - The web site of the Ayurvedic Institute in New Mexico - chock-full of great information on Ayurveda, including books.

Ultraprevention:  The 6-Week Plan that Will Make You Healthy for Life by Mark Hyman, M.D. and Mark Liponis, M.D.

This book is pretty amazing - Knockout: Interviews with Doctors Who Are Curing Cancer--And How to Prevent Getting It in the First Place by Suzanne Somers

Ayurveda:  A Life of Balance, The Complete Guide to Ayurvedic Nutrition and Body Types with Recipes  by Maya Tiwari. 

What's intriguing about all of the above is the link between Food and Health -- and not just physical health, but emotional health.  There is no ONE SHOT diet cure.  This remains true - of anything - there is no ONE SIZE fits all.  God is very creative.  And every human body is 99% the same but that 1% that makes us all incredibly unique will forever baffle minds in all ages and times.  But after reading some of the above, I realize again and again that my investment in making sure I eat good, organic food made for my constitution is one of the wisest investments I can make in this life.  

For those of you who live in Austin, Texas and who don't feel so inclined to hire a personal Natural chef or who love being in the Kitchen more than I do -- I have found Paige Dunlap's Ayurvedic cooking classes wildly awesome.  She teaches out of the Austin Soul Kitchen.  You learn a lot about cooking and the classes are superbly enjoyable.  I highly recommend these classes.

And for Hedonists in NY, gourmands, bon vivants who can afford ridiculous culinary adventures - I recently read in New York magazine about a neurosurgeon named Dr. Miguel Sanchez Romera who is the chef of Romera New York.  He specializes in neurogastronomy.  Don't worry, it's only $245 prix-fixe (yoinks) - but the writers are having a ball covering his new restaurant:  

Eater: http://ny.eater.com/archives/2011/05/dream_hotel_restaurant_to_open_with_245_prix_fixe.php#more

WSJ:  "People think you eat with your stomach. But you don't—you eat with your brain," he (Dr. Miguel Sanchez Romera) explains.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703421204576329403800844910.html#ixzz1gAmNLKtq

 oh yes - and one of the many reasons why I teach Yoga and Meditation at Casa de Luz every Sunday at 9 am is because its the macrobiotic haven for delicious healthy food in Austin.  We practice Yoga, we meditate, we chant for an hour and a half and then we eat.  How perfect.

mylifeyoga.com - for Yoga bloggers

 

One of my blog posts - Yoga of Allergies - is featured on mylifeyoga.com - and I wanted to give a little shout-out to them and a thank you for this re-post.  I also wanted to highlight a blog that extols the positivity and connection that Yoga brings to people throughout the world.  Electronic media can be so darn - flat - really - or heartless, many times.  Perhaps we can say this about the media in general.  Why is this?   Because it's easier to express from a place of angst than it is to express from a place of Love and Bliss.  

Today, I'm teaching Public Relations - at be yoga - 43 Rainey Street, Austin, TX - from 6-7 pm.  What a tremendous exploration.  On a simplistic level, we can see Public Relations as this method for getting your brand projected on media outlets everywhere - Internet, radio, television, film, print, newspapers, etcetera.  On another level, it's the way a private entity relates to the fickle consciousness of the public.  I've always been fascinated by the discipline of public relations - because it's a discipline - as much as anything.  It's as unruly as the Mind --- figure out your own Mind --- and you can figure out how to relate to the Public.  

But this is easier said than done.  Here I go getting incredibly existential in two paragraphs...The deal is - as Yogis - we know that we are ONE with all of consciousness - collective unconsciousness as well as collective consciousness.  And beyond the worldly consciousness - we are connected to the consciousness that has created all that IS.  Right?

If you answered "Right" to the above and meant it, then the next thing I ask is - so what the heck is the difference between your Private world and the Public world?  It's a trick question.  And I say it's a trick question because there's no right or wrong answer.  On so many levels the answer to this question is up to you as an individual.  But there are Universal tenets.  Perhaps it's why I go back again and again to the Yogic scriptures, Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads - because these scriptures help you get Honest about your relationship to Universal laws of love and respect.

So there are tons of media outlets out there - and tons of ways to get the Word out about what you are about.  In public relations, we pay our Public relations professionals to come up with strategies for getting the word that you want out about you.  Having worked in public relations for many years - and now in advertising - the most important thing to understand is that most folks don't give a damn about what you have to say - at least on the surface level - most folks are not going to pay attention to you.  But on a deeper level - everyone gives a damn and beyond.  So just as you need a wholistic view of your life - you ought to have a wholistic view of how you want to relate to the public.    Whole view - not just  a partial view.  

Of utmost importance in the entire Yoga practice is this thing called "Self-Realization."  It means Realizing who you truly Are.  So who are you?  How do you relate to Your Self?  How do you relate to Others?  And what's the point?  As Yogis, we don't want to be relating so much to Others that we've forgotten our Selves.  And we don't want to relate only to our selves that we have forgotten Others.  Balance.  Oh for the sweet love of balance.

But this blog is supposed to be a tribute to mylifeyoga.com - and here I go gadding on about Public relations.  Check out their other articles here:

The Life of Sri Ramakrishna

The Healing Power of Spiritual Surrender

The Days Are Long but the Years are Short

Sumukhi's Austin, Texas Yoga Weekly Class Schedule

I have new class offerings in Austin, Texas!  I would love for you to join me.

We're in the process of re-vamping Yogafly.com, my Web site so that I can post events, classes and offerings in a more timely manner.  But in the meantime, please ignore the Schedule on my site, it's now obsolete.  

My weekly class schedule is as follows.

Monday nights - 8-9 pm, Yogafly with Sumukhi at be yoga - www.behappybeyoga.com, 43 Rainey Street.  In this class, we move in a Vinyasa flow.  Sumukhi leads you in Mantra and Meditation throughout the sequence.  The class is great for all levels of practitioner, from beginner to advanced.  I love to teach group yoga classes like a conductor in a symphony - each body/each instrument is honored for its unique expression but we work together as a whole.  Donation based class - $10-$20 suggested donation.  

Tuesday evening - 6-7:15 pm Yoga and Meditation with Sumukhi and Ally Marie at Amala Foundation's Sanctuary - http://www.amalafoundation.org/community/sanctuary/ - 1006 S. 8th Street.    In this class, Ally Marie and Sumukhi will take turns every other week leading you in Hatha Yoga and Meditation.  Each class will have one of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras as a Theme for the practice.  Expect to move and sit in silent meditation at the end of each class.  $10 for the general public at the door, $5 for Amala Stewards at the Lotus and Jasmine level (donating $25/$50 per month), FREE for Amala Stewards at the Rose level (donating $100 per month

Sunday mornings - 9-10:30 am Yoga and Meditation with Sumukhi at Casa de Luz - http://www.casadeluz.org/ - 1701 Toomey Road.  Sumukhi leads you in the 8 limbs of Yoga - as described by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras.  Expect to chant, move deeply into Asana sequences, relax and sit in Silent Meditation for the last 20 Minutes of class.  This class is meant for all levels, but is especially good for those who wish to deepen their Meditation practice.  $15 drop-in.  $100 for 10-class pass.  Free for all Casa de Luz Volunteers.

Please join me for these Yoga adventures.  Yoga is quite the ride inward into our own Golden Hearts.  May we let the sun shine through our very being as we walk through this world together.  

Much love!

 

Yoga and Marketing 101 for Austin Yoga teachers

I love that Yoga is becoming more and more popular and that many folks all over the world teach and practice it.  For Yoga teachers, with this popularity comes the challenge of supporting one's self financially as a Yoga teacher and growing one's own Yoga business.  

In its most fundamental sense, Yoga is a Science for helping all human beings attain peace and happiness - a beautiful practice to still the mind.   In my 14 years of practicing and teaching yoga, I've also simultaneously worked in marketing/advertising/public relations. 

Many Yoga teachers over the years have asked me to help publicize and market their offerings - and I am happy to offer Yoga and Marketing 101 in a nurturing, supportive environment at be yoga www.behappybeyoga.com - on 43 Rainey Street, Austin, TX 78701.  

Austin, Texas has many wonderful yoga studios - and I always like to tell people - why not?  This city still has many, many more bars and nightclubs than yoga studios - and wouldn't it be great to flip the switch?  I say bring on the yoga studios!  And let's help support each other as Yoga teachers so Austin, Texas can become known as a mecca for Yoga and conscious ways of living. 

Yoga and Marketing 101 at be yoga - 43 Rainey Street Austin, TX 78701

When:  6 Saturdays, November 5, 12 and 19 and December 3, 10, 17 - 6:00-7:00 pm

Investment: $20-$40 Suggested donation

Bring:  Journal and something to write with

What:  In 6-weeks, you will learn how to use practical and everyday marketing, advertising and PR techniques to help you serve and guide students into Yoga.  Natural Foods Chef, Brian Henderson, will be providing delicious, healthy snacks and drinks throughout the 6 week course.

1) Saturday, November 5, 2011:  Move beyond the Ego into the Hearts of All.  In this class you will learn how to honor and hone your unique personal Mission, Vision and Values as a Yoga Teacher and how to effectively communicate this to others.

2) Saturday, November 12, 2011: Understand Your Inner Self and Your Outer Self.  Publicity and Privacy.  Yin and Yang.  Introvert and Extrovert.  Yoga - whether it's Advaita Vedanta or Tantra - is about the Union of Opposites.  In this class, we will learn the basics of Public Relations - and how to honor your own and others' Privacy while working with the Public.

3) Saturday, November 19, 2011:  Occupy Your Inner Wall Street.  What is Wall Street?  What is Advertising?  What is Marketing?  And how do they relate to Yoga?  In this class, we will work with our 1st and 2nd Chakras - to work with our understanding of Money and how to put our Creativity to use in Advertising so that all experience Abundance.

4) Saturday, December 3, 2011: Yoga and Finance.  In this class, we will examine basic principles of money management as a Yoga teacher and student.  We all spend money on Yoga Teacher Trainings, Retreats, Yoga Classes, Workshops, Yoga Clothes, Trips to India.  Let's explore basic balance sheet methods for honoring our expenses as modern Yogis.

5) Saturday, December 10, 2011: Yoga and the Media.  In this class, we will explore the use of Photography, Videos, Music, Multi-media as Yogis - with love and no attachment to help inspire others and each other.

6) Saturday, December 17, 2011:  Put it all Together:  Your Yoga Marketing Plan.  We'll put everything we've worked on in the last 6 weeks into an Actionable Marketing plan that can be used throughout your career as a Yoga Teacher.

Attend all 6 sessions or drop-in for 1 or 2.

About Sumukhi (Kristina Lanuza):

Sumukhi discovered her love for Yoga at Ruder Finn, one of the largest privately owned PR agencies in New York City years ago at her first job out of college.  She has then taught and studied Yoga throughout New York City and Austin, Texas while simultaneously continuing her career in marketing. Currently, she works in the advertising department of a large financial services company, teaches Yoga classes and Yoga Teacher Training in Austin,Texas and Yoga retreats in upstate New York at Ananda Ashram. Previously, she worked at MRM Worldwide (McCann Erickson's digital division), Saatchi & Saatchi, Rowland Communications Worldwide and has co-owned her own Web design company.  Sumukhi is offering these Yoga and Marketing classes to help modern Yogis and Yoginis bridge the gap between their spiritual and material needs as Yoga teachers, Yoga students and householders.  For more information, visit www.yogafly.com.

The Heart and the Art of Yoga

Beauty and balance.

Bliss and contentment.

Ease and transformation.

Strength and softness.

Yielding within boundaries.

The heart and the art of Yoga is subtlety refined and brought out into the open.  This is what I have been practicing with the Yoga Illumined crew.  You see some of them pictured here in the blog - Terra Volz, Amy Jackson, Shelli Lopes-Barnes, Ally Marie and Kristin Sundberg.  It's been very sweet to see how they are getting "It."  And what exactly is "It"?  Their own very Self.  

At last night's satsang with Austin Big Heart Yoga and one of the Shambhava School of Yoga's acharyas (Senior Teachers), Ashok - brought back into light again and again that the answer to most questions is to practice.  Practice these teachings of Yoga, practice meditation, practice mantra and do it from a place of remembering the Hearts of our Teachers as inspiration.  To create a rote routine out of your practice makes it into a religion and spiritual practice is beyond religion.  It is beyond dogma.  I really love Steve Jobs' definition of dogma - " living with the results of other people’s thinking."  It's an absolutely precise and brilliant definition.  And I think we can go a tiny bit further and say dogma is also living with the results of your own thinking.  In the deepest practices of Yoga - we don't believe our own hype, our own thoughts - we put them in their place with love and respect, but we are not dictated by them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the important lessons I've learned throughout teaching and practicing yoga over the years, is that there is a subtle and powerful difference between teaching someone Yoga so that they can know their own very Self and teaching someone Yoga because you need your belief system validated.  It's a subtle energy, but a powerful one.  It's very important to note that Yoga teacher trainings are happening en masse and there are great things about this fact, and there are also things we all need to be aware of as students and practitioners.

As young teachers - there is still so much room for the mind to doubt, the body is still being refined by the practice, and the heart is still opening.  There is an exploration that happens in the teaching.  I can speak to this from my own experience as a young, extremely enthusiastic, extremely athletic young gymnast who wanted to see everyone FLY (literally).  Truthfully, when I was younger - I wasn't sure why EVERYONE didn't want to be on a balance beam flipping over into backbends and vaulting.  I loved running and vaulting.  I look back at that younger self of mine and giggle now.  Woah - what was I "thinking" when I would do all those crazy things to the body.  Truthfully, I wasn't thinking at all, and that's what made all that possible.  

But Hatha Yoga and its practices are a lot more nuanced, subtle and multi-dimensional than gymnastics sequences, I can guarantee you this.  And what happens as you mature into your practice and teaching as a teacher, is that there is a greater confidence in the ability of the practice to truly transform others.  Because the practice has transformed you.  You can look back at your own ways of working and playing in the world and see how they have changed and how you have grown into an ever more loving human being.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 But of course we have to start exactly where we are.  We have to see the beauty of being NEW at something - ever-new, really.  To always have that beginners' mind and heart as a Yoga teacher and practitioner as we teach and practice is the only way to keep Yoga from becoming dogma and religion.  It allows you to see your Self and the Self in all as fresh and ever-new.  It allows you to never take anyone's experience for granted.  Beginners mind allows you to see everyone as perfect for wherever they are in the moment and to give space for all that we are as individual and universal "Self".

We let go of judgements - of others, of ourselves and of even the world.  As Joseph Campbell said, "The world's a mess, it has always been. Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world."   And so we get into another level of this practice that I have been keenly aware of.  How do we participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world?

This Joy is the very heart of Yoga and Meditation practice.  Ashok explained that Practice - the Yoga practice is always the answer.  It doesn't mean that your Yoga practice will make all problems go away - it is that the practice itself gives you the awareness to work with everything with a sense of joy and peace.  I've been made keenly aware of teachers who read into students' issues and problems with so much concern that they get "hooked."  It's happened to the best of us - and used to happen to me quite a bit until I finally became aware of it.  As I have matured, I've noticed that people's problems and dramas are not my concern, it is their heart and freedom that I am most hooked into.  Problem and drama are the roots of circular, non-transformative patterns and behaviors that lead a person nowhere.  I like even the word "nowhere" - it breaks down into "Where" and "Now" - "where is now?"  Nowhere is the place where "Now" is lost.

The "problem-solver" hook is very interesting.  It's the crux of the co-dependent way of viewing things.  This is where spirituality and psychology meet and hold hands.   Every caretaker, care-giver, doctor, healer, patient should look and study co-dependency.  Co-dependency is the need for the world to suffer so that you can be a source of healing for it.  It's a tremendous sort of Witnessing to notice this.  I'm not saying that the world isn't suffering and that we should just be benign smiling Happy stone Buddhas laughing while everyone else suffers.  That's not what I'm saying.

I think it's very important to note that the hook of co-dependency - is the very need for one half of the picture (let's say Yoga Teacher, Doctor, Therapist) to be the epitome of Health and Wellness and for the other half of the picture (Yoga Student, Patient) to be the epitome of Disease and Suffering.  This is a fallacy.  I know we all know this, but it's important to look at.  I actually look directly into what my teachers are teaching me and I ask my Heart - "Does this teacher want anything from me?"

This is an important question.  Aside from wanting to give me the teachings, "Does this teacher or Doctor or Healer want anything from me?"  And I can truly say that I can answer this just from being with a person for a few minutes, a few seconds even.  We're going into that very subtle sankalpa (intention) thing again and again.  That subtle thing that the teacher wants from me - my money, to ease my suffering, my undying devotion, my non-ending commitment, my presence, my intelligence - is such a gigantic hook, see it?  The very wanting itself hooks the Co-dependent with the Victim.

 This is why you hear advanced teachers say things again and again about going beyond the "Victim" consciousness.  Advanced spiritual teachers do not see Victims that need to forever be healed with their balm.  Truly advanced Yoga teachers realize that they work on their own Mind, their own Body and their own Spirit first, before they go out trying to "fix" others or convince others of the power of their Yoga practice.  When I sit with teachers from the Shambhava School of Yoga - all of them are tremendous - because they don't get hooked into anyone's suffering or story.  The teachings and the practice are provided.  The practitioner is hopefully putting them into practice.  And that's it.

We keep coming back - day after day, week after week, moment to moment, back to the Yoga practice, back to honoring ourselves and our Self in all so that we don't see ourselves and others as Victims, Co-dependents and Perpetrators.  These are fabulous psychology words that help our awareness expand - but there's no need to get hooked to them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In spiritual communities, it's important to note when you "want" something from someone else.  If you do, then most likely you are not doing much practice.  It's one of the most interesting hooks back into samsara  or hell -- circular, repetitive getting nowhere -- the desire for others to be more "spiritual."  I have to laugh at this one a lot.  The spiritual ego is so strong.  The idea that one aspect of life is more spiritual than another.  All those ideas of what spiritual is and isn't.  And the rumblings that go on in the minds of those who have great expectations of others.

This great spiritual expectation of others can be summarized:  "If only that person was more advanced spiritually, then I would be more advanced spiritually."  We are all entrained to each other - we are all unconsciously and consciously guided by one another.  And Yoga says, look within and follow your own Heart and Intuition.  So yes, there is a tiny bit of truth in "If only that person was more spiritually advanced, then I would be more spiritually advanced."  But the greater part of it is an impossibility.  It is impossible to simply become enlightened just by hanging out with enlightened beings.  It is impossible.  It is impossible to simply follow a Guru and his/her body around the world and universe and become enlightened. If this were so, then all the enlightened beings' throngs of followers would be enlightened.

It is only the practice that allows for transformation and enlightenment.

And so we continue the practice.  Next year's Yoga Illumined will move into an 8 hour weekend practice, 4 hours on Saturday, 4 hours on Sunday.  They will be offered every third weekend of the month for 10 months starting February 2012.  I am honored to have Zoe Mantarakis co-teaching with me.  Yoga Illumined 2011 graduates will be available for mentorship.

I am also going to be offering a series of classes on Yoga and Marketing as a Spiritual Practice.  It will look into the very Psychology of Desire as it relates to providing the techniques and practices of Yoga to students and each other.  It will look deeply into how we relate to Advertising and Marketing as Yoga teachers and students.  It will look deeply into our own needs to support ourselves financially and spiritually in the world.  The curriculum itself is quite the spiritual journey.  I'll announce when it is ready.

As always,

Stay tuned in.