The weather has been pretty powerful around here! The sudden onset of cold, overcast, rainy weather is telling me that autumn means business! Autumn is a time of transition as the weather cools, leaves turn, and days shorten. It's also the time of year when school starts, and families settle into a new routine after a summer of vacations and outdoor fun. During this time, you might notice personal transitions as well. It's important to stay in touch with how your feeling physically and mentally and to honor that in your practice.

For me, this means striking a balance between heat-building sequences to keep me energized and quieting down into some restorative postures to nurture my tired body. Round up some blankets and pillows for a juicy little restorative sequence!

Recharging Autumnal Practice
Start in Tadasana. Take a few breaths and allow your body and mind to open to possibilities. Cultivate an optimistic, accepting attitude in the face of change.
Go through 3 - 6 sun salutations, enough to get your body nice and warm and supple.
Transition from down-dog into Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (Pigeon), for the sheer delight of it.
Grab some blankets and set yourself in an easy Supta Virasana (Reclining Hero) for a few minutes.
Move your blanket pile in front of you and take a supported Balasana (Child's Pose) for even longer.
Move the pile behind you again and strap yourself into Supta Baddha Konasana (Reclining Bound Angle). Cover up with a blanket.
Stay as long as you like.
Come back up to a seat and sit for a few moments, savoring the feeling of a renewed body and spirit.

"The only thing that's been a worse flop than the organization of non-violence has been the organization of violence."

I'm ashamed to say that I turned off the American Masters Episode featuring Joan Baez on Wednesday to indulge in my prime-time obsession, Glee. Fortunately, I now see that you can watch the full episode online! Thanks PBS!

Recently I've watched Don't Look Back and No Direction Home, documentaries about Bob Dylan. As much as I love Bob Dylan, in both of these docs, I love Joan Baez even more. She seems fiercely grounded to her personal integrity and passionate about peace and human rights. Also, she has a beautiful home and is always drinking tea. I wonder if I could invite myself over? We could do some yoga together and then drink some chai. Well, at least I definitely need to go back and watch the full documentary! What I saw was truly inspiring because I see how one person can truly be influential in sharing the message of ahimsa.

One of the many things that I absolutely love about my yoga students is that every week they totally BRING IT! They are on fire! I will say "Let's all try this crazy new advanced asana!" and they are 100% on board! I love it! Even if they don't reach the classical, full expression of the pose, every week they play the edge of the full expression for them, on that day.

I've been thinking about how I can apply this fire to my dance practice and performance. As I mentioned yesterday, this is a big dance week! Allow me to state for the record that it is only Tuesday and I am already sore! I've already packed in some intense asana and dance practice and have more to throw down before the week is out! Sometimes it is hard to suck it up and practice when I'm tired, sore, cranky or not feeling it.

What is really pushing me through this week is knowing that, just as I can see the tapas in my students, other people can see that in me when I dance. My best performances are when I'm totally in the moment, enjoying the company of my troupemates, and giving 100% of myself. On the other hand, my weaker performances are when I've allowed something to shake me up, my mind is anxious or distracted and in turn, my body looks flat and uncommitted.

So my goal this week is to hang on to that fire and inspiration so I can shine it right back out on Saturday!

Tapas is one of the niyamas (personal ethics). Literally it means "fire" and is also understood to mean dedication to practice, tenacity and all that good stuff.

For example, posting to your yoga blog, even though it's way past your bedtime, you're cranky, you still have to finish knitting the present you're giving to a friend at her baby shower tomorrow, you didn't have time to throw down an asana practice or run through dance choreography because you had important things to do like go on a lunch date, buy more yarn, and hang out with your in-laws... because you made a commitment to post your yoga blog every day and you can't quit when you're only on day three.

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?

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?