One of the exciting benefits of my teacher training program was getting to know a diverse group of yogis who all had different approaches to their practice. I am alway curious about what excites people about yoga, and how they practice. Do you go to classes? Do you practice at home with DVDs or books or just by your own creativity? Do you have a routine that you stick to or is it freeform?

My practice has definitely ebbed, flowed, shifted, and advanced over time. During my teacher training program, I maintained a morning sun salutations practice. After a while that practice dropped off, and instead I usually did my yoga in the late morning or early afternoon, depending on my schedule and my inclinations. I've been stuck in a rut so I decided to pick it back up again. I forgot how much I loved this practice! I get up, have a big glass of water, set an intention, and then hit the mat for 12 rounds of sun salutations. It takes about 20 to 30 minutes, and I am refreshed and set up with a better attitude for the whole day. It's invigorating but gives me room to continue if I am feeling energized, and I'm more inclined to revisit my asana practice later in the day if I have time because I know how good it feels.

In the end, that's really all I want out of yoga... I want to feel good inside and out. How about you? If you're stuck in a rut or don't know where to start, share your hangups, too!

At the end of this month, I'll be teaching a DIY Yoga workshop all about building a personal yoga practice. I've attached a flyer you can download if you are local! If you are not currently a member of Life Time Fitness, contact me and I can get you a guest pass for the day.

With two weeks of crazy dance time behind me, we're now back to regularly scheduled yoga blogging. Now I direct your attention to Yoga Dork where you will find a fantastic interview with Sadie Nardini.

Straight up I'll tell you I have always been a fan of Sadie Nardini. I love her You Tube Videos, and her unique, no-nonsense voice over at the Huffington Post.

Recently she signed on at YAMA, which is essentially a talent agency that handles yoga teachers. I definitely noticed a shift in Sadie's already impressive web presence, and it's kind of exciting to see that her yoga is taking her to a whole new level. A lot of fundamentalist yogis are all a-tizzy about the creation of such a thing being an un-yogic, money-grubbing venture. I say, why not?! I'll let you read Sadie's far more eloquent take on the matter, but I'll add that I spent the first year post Yoga Teacher Training floundering around trying to get classes started. I would still say that I am not 100% successful in managing my own teaching business. It is really difficult building classes and getting a following, and teaching classes is a total time suck. Sure I am making a really decent hourly rate, but that does not include my time marketing, creating lesson plans, talking to students, and the twenty minutes I spend rolling up mats and cleaning up after every class. Would I like someone to help me to manage my life? YES. Totally. In fact, I hope to have the problem when I am too busy to handle all of the teaching and performance gigs I would like to do, so that I can hand over the logistics to a professional, and I can dedicate my time to developing my skills as a teacher and serving my students. Isn't that what we all want? To live our passion, and for it to be sustainable?

I just watched Yoga, Inc. for free online, and you can too! Just click on the little widget at the end of this post!

I was really impressed with the quality of this documentary. There were lots of informed yogis that shared their perspectives on the history of yoga in the US as well as speculations for the future. There are two camps of people on the commercialization of yoga: there's the "YAY! Let's go! It's the American way to make money on everything!" and there's the "Yoga is an ancient spiritual practice not to be sullied by the dirtiness of money!" This film did a good job of giving each camp equal voice, as well as some balanced perspectives from realist yogis.

There was extra focus on the YogaWorks guys (who also founded AskJeeves.com, back in the day. Who knew?!) and my favorite yoga don, Bikram Chowdury. The filmmaker and some of the interviewees seemed concerned that Bikram and YogaWorks are paving the way for other McYogas that will kill all the independent yoga studios. I don't think that will ever happen, unless there is some widespread regulation of yoga teachers, beyond what the Yoga Alliance is already doing. Anyway, it would be a long time.

Personally, I'm not that worried about it. I get a thrill out of Bikram, I love the abundance of chic yoga wear available to me, and it doesn't bother me that yoga is super commercialized. If any of this brings people to the practice, good can come out of it. People come to yoga for all sorts of reasons, and because there is such diversity in instructors and teachings, there will always be room for everyone.

Your thoughts?

I always give my students the opportunity to request things they'd like to work on, because hey, it's their class and I want to make them happy! Finally someone took me up on it. One of my students wants to work on handstand. Handstand, I think is special, because it represents a mile-marker in strength and also in overcoming fear. Perhaps only I say that because it is definitely the scariest inversion for me personally! I've been playing with inversions a lot in my practice lately, doing prep poses to build strength and mobility around my shoulder girdle and upper back, as well as core-strengthening poses for stability. As for full-on inversions, I've been mixing it up between pincha mayurasana, headstand, and handstand. I've been playing with different ways to move into them to see what feels good to me and which way might be most appropriate approach for this group of students. After taking an inexplicable hiatus from inversions a while ago, I am having tons of fun exploring this area of my practice again. This is making me curious about how other people practice!

Some teachers and traditions teach inversions at the wall. This is how I learned. It is all about kicking up and using the wall for support and then learning to shift away from the wall for balance. Other instructors teach inversions in the middle of the room, building strength and balance by practicing the actions required for the inversion, and not necessarily going all the way.

Which way did you learn? How do you practice now? Do you prefer one way over the other?

There's a very interesting article over at the Huntington Post written by Sadie Nardini (super awesome vinyasa yogini from NYC). In this article, she "comes out of the closet" about her meat-eating ways. She calls out the yoga community about being judgmental about omnivores and for putting pressure on practitioners by accusing them of being "less yogic" by eating meat.

As you may know, I'm vegetarian. It's something I'm passionate about, and I'm so grateful for the abundance of the earth and the many delicious fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes that are available to me. I don't consider myself a hard-core evangelist for the vegetarian cause, but I do think that many people could stand to eat more mindfully by eating a plant-based diet and making choices that are gentle to our environment.

It may surprise you, then, that I totally agree with Sadie. As Sadie, astutely points out, "In many places, a vegetarian or vegan diet is not possible, and more expensive than the average salary can afford. It's not only spiritual-ist but classist to demand it as a prerequisite." As much as I'm thankful for the abundance of the earth, I'm also thankful that really I have the luxury of actually having a choice of what I can eat. At any time of the year, I can procure just about any sort of food item I want... and on top of that, I can buy organic, local, or grow my own food.

One statement in particular really jumped out at me:

"There is a strong "don't ask, don't tell" policy in the yoga community that is keeping students, and even many teachers, locked firmly inside the meat-eating closet. If they do tell, they run the risk of being placed somewhere along the imaginary, self-created spectrum of yoginess, usually more towards the bottom than the vegans among us.
One result of this is that yoga is getting a bad rap, as a culture of Yogier-Than-Thou, which has people running back to the gym in droves. No one wants to be made to feel like a lesser being, especially while already lurching around in Tree Pose like a drunken sailor. And I'm sick and tired of seeing it happen again and again in studios across the country, proving to potential students that they are not welcome as they are...but will be only if they plan to change."

Although this article is specifically about diet, Sadie really gets the big picture here. Or should I say, she gets to the meat of the matter. (uh... sorry) This dietary judgment thing is only one in an influx of yoga-fundamentalism and egoism that is cropping up in all sorts of ways in the yoga community. I would consider all the new "brands" of yoga a symptom of this as well.

I have definitely been on the receiving end of this Yogier-Than-Thou treatment and it is not cool! I recognize that in the seat of the teacher, one has an obligation to be a leader and to guide students. However, that is not a free pass to manipulate people or make them feel bad about themselves. In addition, people come to yoga for all sorts of reasons, and not necessarily for the spiritual benefits or philosophical discussions. While I love to plant seeds of the yamas and niyamas in my classes, I would never dream of sizing up a student and be like ... "WHOOAAA! Someone sure has a problem with satya up in here! You'll never reach sammadhi the way you're headed!"

So, in sum, I'm on board with Sadie. It's a bold thing to do to call out the community at large, but we could definitely stand to spread around that ahimsa we're always going on about and show some compassion and understanding towards our brothers and sisters throughout the yoga community.

And who wouldn't love a yogini who cooks up something as awesome as a rock and roll mantra!