It's the start of dance workshop season around here... well, for me at least! Sunday I went with my troupemate, Amy, to Philadephia to take some workshops with Paulette Rees-Denis of Gypsy Caravan.

Amy had lent me Paulette's book, Tribal Vision and as soon as I finished reading it I was hungry to learn more from Paulette. I was so excited when I found out that she was going to be in the area so I could experience her teaching and dance philosophy first-hand. The workshops did not disappoint, and Paulette was was warm, grounded, and a clear teacher.

The theme for the day was duende, a quality of passion and inspiration. My personal interpretation for the purposes of dance is dancing your truest self.

Paulette led us through a Tribal Trance Dance session, where we explored various forms of movement individually as well as with a partner and with the whole group. I don't want to break the sacred and confidential nature of the work we did that day by going into too much detail, but I will say that it was a wonderful experience. On a personal level, it was very satisfying to release any negative or stagnant energy by moving in a new way, allowing more room for my inner self to have more of a voice. Also, it was an especially fun way to build a deeper bond with my troupemate and connect with the other dancers at the workshop.

Paulette is obviously passionate about developing true community among dancers, and I really respect her for that. We're experiencing a period in tribal bellydance where many dancers are trying to make a name for themselves by creating sub-genres and new formats and, as a result, the community can seem somewhat fractured. The sense of community is what really drew me into tribal bellydance in the first place, and it is what continues to feed my dancing as I study deeper and perform. It's so important for us to nurture relationships, because when it comes down to it, we are all working to achieve duende, to honor the dance, and to present the best versions of ourselves. Isn't it that much sweeter to support one another and in turn be supported on the journey?

Last year, one of my favorite yoga bloggers interviewed Kate Churchill about her documentary, Enlighten Up!, which follows a newbie yoga student in a six month quest for enlightenment. At that time, she had just finished the film and it was just being submitted at film festivals. It made it's way to DC and I finally got to see it!

Her subject, Nick, is a total skeptic, and expects no transformation of any kind. He's a journalist by profession and asks many great questions about the practice of such yoga superstars as Sri Pattabhi Jois, Dharma Mittra, BKS Iyengar, Sharon Gannon and David Life, to name a few.

I don't want to give many details away, lest I spoil the film for anyone. I will say that I think it's a well made film that yogis of any level would enjoy. I think many questions that Nick and the director ask are common ones. How do you find happiness? What does asana have to do with spiritual practice? Can I do yoga and not be religious? What does it mean to be enlightened? How long does it take to get there? I must admit that it was delightful and inpsiring to see so many great teachers generously delivering insight after insight all in one small film, but if you think this film will answer those questions for you, it won't!

It was obvious that the gurus featured in the film had attained personal contentment and spiritual fulfillment. It was also apparent that they had all come to this place by individual routes, colored by their own personal experiences. Perhaps this also explains the fractured nature of yoga in the west... there is a brand of yoga for everything! The film touches on this theory, as Nick tries to puzzle out how so many different teachers can have entirely different practices and still call them all "yoga."

Watching this film as a teacher reminds me that I have to pay such careful attention to my students to meet their individual needs. Not everyone is going to take the same path. I would say that we are all seeking something greater than ourselves, but sometimes that isn't true, either. In that case, the best I can offer is a solid physical practice with the hopes that it builds the foundation for even greater growth.

Check out Cody's interview with Kate Churchill. (no spoilers!)

I received Paul Grilley's Anatomy for Yoga DVD for my birthday. It contains over four hours of workshop lectures and other fun interactive stuff. It's rich in content and is really getting my brain going about yoga and anatomy, so expect a series of anatomy inspired posts!

Paul Grilley is the dude behind Yin Yoga (although, unlike some supertar yogis... cough Bikram cough he claims not to have invented it and claims no ownership over it). Yin yoga emphasizes release of connective tissue and joints by holding postures for long periods of time. HIs anatomy lectures elaborate on his primary message, "Discriminate between the sensations of Tension and Compression when practicing Asanas." By Tension, he means muscular tension that restricts movement. For example, tension in my hamstrings makes a full split a distant dream for me. Compression is bone-on-bone contact. Compression stops normal people's legs from straightening beyond 180 degrees... not freaky hyperexteners like me, though. Heh.

Here's a great clip from one of the lectures that illustrates the variety in individual anatomy as well as Paul Grilley's thoughts on how these differences are reflected in yoga asanas.

What's so surprising to me, is that Grilley openly accepts all the variations of postures that take shape in different bodies. In fact, he encourages practitioners to explore the full range of motion and experiencing compression on the joint whether it is hypo- or hyper-flexible. I've been practicing yoga since 2001, and I don't think I have ever had an instructor be okay with my hyper-mobility. I'm not sure that I'm even okay with my hyperflexibility, between always being told things like "Hug in! More muscular energy! Microbend your knee!" by my yoga instructors and being prone to injury in my loose joints. Frankly, having permission to experience yoga in the way Grilley suggests boggles my mind. I don't think I've ever tried it, and now I'm really curious to drop in a Yin Yoga class and see what it does for me.

In addition, even though anatomy is a hard science, in yoga there is so much room for discussion about what a yoga posture is, and what is the "right" and "wrong" way to do it. If you have ever injured yourself in practice, or received an improper adjustment in a yoga class, you might certainly feel there is a "wrong" way to do yoga! I'm still churning all this around in my mind, and I do have probably at least two more hours of anatomy lectures to watch that may help me feel my way around the incredibly complex relationship between yoga and anatomy.

Thoughts? Have you explored the range of motion in your joints? What have you learned about how your body moves just by experiencing your yoga practice?

I am just now getting back into my regular practice after a few weeks break.

At the end of April, I got really sick. I ended up having a reaction to the medication I was taking, which, of course, required MORE medication, which kept me out of commission for several weeks by the time the whole adventure was tallied up.

Over those weeks, I my body was sick and tired, and my brain was in a massive fog from the fatigue and all the drugs I was taking. It just wasn't possible for me to keep up my regular asana and dance practice during this time. I must admit, it wasn't easy to back off when I am so used to being physically active. Since I am an instructor, it is especially important for me to take a break when I need to so that I can heal completely and quickly. I would do a disservice to myself and my students by attempting to lead a class when my physical and mental resources are tapped.

It's so important to listen to your body! If you're sick and you push through practice anyway, you can stir up those germs and make yourself feel even worse. Likewise, if you're injured, you can inhibit your body from completely healing. By taking care of your body, you're practicing ahimsa by being compassionate towards yourself. Give yourself permission to pamper yourself until you are able to be 100% present in your asana practice.

As for me, I am happy to report that I am back to my normal activity level and have renewed joy in my asana practice because I missed it so much!

I'm including information about the Metta meditation, also known as the Loving-Kindess meditation. This is a really lovely and simple meditation to practice to develop compassion towards yourself and towards others.

Guided Metta Meditation (audio file and transcript)
Facets of Metta, an excerpt of the book, Loving-Kindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness.

I was inspired by Elizabeth Gilbert's TED talk to conduct my own personal experiment. She is of the opinion that creative genius is closer to the ancient Roman/Greek opinion that creativity is at least partially divinely inspired. She goes on to describe a low point writing when Eat, Pray, Love that she ended up saying out loud, "I have put everything I have into into this, and if it fails, it's not entirely my fault, I showed up for my part. If you want it to be better, you have to show up for your part of the deal. If not, I will still keep writing because that is my job."

This concept isn't new to me, as I have seen other creatives take a similar position, but her story really grabbed me in a way that inspired me to put it into action. I'll show up at the drawing board, the mat, the sewing table, the dance floor. I'll be present, I'll put energy into what I'm doing whether I initially "feel like it" or not, and I'll have faith that the universe will meet me halfway. Isn't that what yoga is anyway? Union with the Divine? Being present and open?

I'll tell you straight up... the fruits of my yoga practice have been really sweet lately. I haven't changed my asanas at all, but I have changed my attitude. Lo and behold, it's opening up opportunity for growth in my dancing and transforming my everyday perspective to be much more positive.

Can you put your faith in something greater than yourself?

Yikes! I check my blog and there are thousands of comments! Sadly, I will win no popularity contests, as they were all spam.

I have deleted them all. So sorry, but you will have to find cheap cialis, viagra, xanax, and camel cigarettes elsewhere.

If I accidently deleted a comment, of yours, please forgive me and resubmit. To comment, you are now required you to confirm you are a human by typing what is in the box. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Back to your irregularly scheduled yoga discussions!

Yoga is citta vritti nirodha - the calming of the swirling mindstuff.

I don't know about you, but I certainly want to stop the swirling of the mindstuff. Here comes a huge yogini confession: I have a million things going on in my head at once. I've been practicing yoga a long time and I've still got a lot of mindstuff flying around. Here's another secret: asana practice doesn't always get the mindstuff under control!

There's more to yoga practice than asana. I think especially since I am a yoga teacher as well as a practitioner, my teacher brain takes over and I start thinking about specific points of alignment, breaking down every detail in my physical practice that I get so wrapped up in it that I'm no longer in the present moment just experiencing my practice. There was one class not long ago where I struggled so much with what I thought was a basic posture, I really beat myself up about my progress. After class, my mentor said to me, "Don't feel bad about it! That's not yoga!"

She's right! But what do you do when you can't do yoga when you're doing yoga anymore?

Yesterday I was really struggling to get out of my own head, so I packed my hoola hoop in the car and went to the park. I hooked up my ipod and hooped for an hour or so. It was so fun to play outside, absorb some sunshine and let go. I found myself able to release judgement about myself and just be in the moment as I danced and played. It's also a good practice to do something like that in a public space and not worry about other people may think. (Although, most people who passed me smiled when they saw a grown up playing with a hoola hoop!)

Obviously, I'm not going to give up my asana practice, or the technical aspects of making a safe physical practice. Still, there's value in shaking up your practice by looking for that yoga connection in other parts of your life. I look at this experimentation and play as a way to "unblock" myself when I get stuck creatively, or caught up in a negative thought pattern. Where do YOU find a calming of your mindstuff? How does it effect your outlook on life?

I am constantly encountering new realizations about yoga. Sometimes this takes the form of new understanding of my own body and this most recent case is my feet. I noticed some alignment issues when I was practicing dance in front of a mirror and traced the problem to my feet.

Our feet are our are physical foundation, and our whole body depends on their health! Poor alignment in the feet can cause knee, hip, and back pain. Unfortunately, our feet often go neglected. As a dancer, my feet require extra-special care, especially since I am a victim of chronic foot pain. I bring to you today my favorite healthy feet practice:

Basic Feet Warmups: (do at the beginning of every yoga or dance practice, at the end of a long day, or whenever you think it would feel good!)

1. Interlace your fingers between your toes like you are shaking hands with your foot.
2. Draw circles, rotating your ankle one way, and then the other.
3. Point the toes down and hold for two breaths. Flex the foot and hold for two breaths.
4. Give each toe a little twist and tug.
5. Massage the sole of the foot, starting at the base of the toes, and working your way toward the heel.
6. Gently pound the sole of the foot with your fist.
7. Give the foot friction, warming it up by rubbing briskly between the hands.
8. Clap the foot between the hands (I call this the standing ovation!)
9. Extend your foot next to the other, enjoy the difference in the feet, and repeat with the other foot.

General Feet Tips:

• In Tadasana, your feet should be directly under the bony part of your hips (towards the inside, not the outer fleshy part of your hips).
• To ground the feet, lift and spread the toes. Press through the four corners of the feet (mound of the big toe, inner heel at the base of the arch, mound of the little toe, outer heel).
• This action will lift the arches away from the ground and fire up all the muscles in the legs, providing a strong foundation for your standing poses.
• Try practicing all your standing poses with your toes lifted and spread. See how it feels, and notice if it improves your alignment.

I'm also a huge fan of of Yoga Toes. They help bring space and circulation to tight feet, and it feels so good. I have a pinched nerve in my foot and it really helps relieve the pressure if I'm having a painful flare-up.

For further reading, check out Yoga Nerd on "The Ground Beneath You for great instruction on how to work the feet in various asanas.

So after mentioning the MTV Yoga DVD in my previous review, I figured I should revisit it and give it a review of its own.

I used to practice to this DVD nearly every day when I wasn't able to take yoga classes. It's a well-balanced vinyasa based practice. Kristin McGee has an encouraging, personable teaching voice and it's a fun, invigorating workout. I recommend it for intermediate yogis. There are some poses in there that are pretty advanced that don't include much instruction, so if you're not familiar with basic standing poses, Danurasana (bow), and Padangustasana (hand to big toe), this DVD probably isn't for you.

It has a soundtrack that is by techno-dude, BT, which I'm sure was REALLY AWESOME in 2002 when this DVD came out and is "hosted" by Lori, from some incarnation of the Real World.

There is also a brief breakdown of some of the asanas at the end of the DVD. It's good for a refresher, but Kristin McGee does some hands-on adjustments that I'm sure were helpful to Lori but don't translate well to DVD. Also, Lori comes out of the poses any old way which is a huge yoga no-no! That's the #1 cause of yoga injuries. So pretend you didn't see that and come out of your poses as mindfully and carefully as you came into them.

I'm sure there are plenty of more exciting DVDs out by the latest Yoga Superstars but this is still a favorite practice of mine! If you're comfortable in your yoga foundations, give it a shot!

I've recently decided to take advantage of my Netflix membership to check out some Yoga DVDs. First on the list is Yoga Mind and Body with Ali McGraw and Erich Schiffman. I'll tell you up front: I'm a huge fan of Erich Schiffman. He's like what would happen if you fused Patanjali with The Dude from The Big Lebowski. This DVD did not disappoint. I can't believe I haven't seen it until now- it was originally released in 1994!

It's a moderate practice, clocking in at about 50 minutes. The pacing is perfect, and it's a nice potpourri of poses that is great for beginners who want to supplement their class as well as advanced practitioners who want to focus on alignment or playing the edge in basic poses. I love the standing pose flow which goes from Trikonasana to Ardha Chandrasana to Uttitha Parsvakonasana to Parsvatanasana, to Prasarita Padottanasana. Whew that was a lot of sanskrit right there!

Also I have to mention I love the MTV-esque editing* and the Dead Can Dance soundtrack.

Of course this only prompted me to dig deeper into the Netflix Yoga vault and thus the next installment of yoga reviews will feature Yoga for Indie Rockers. Stay tuned! Also feel free to add your favorite yoga resources or request reviews in the comments!

*True story: my first and favorite yoga DVD is MTV Yoga. Perhaps I should be embarrassed to admit that, but I promise it's actually a decent instructional DVD!