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Finding My Way

Image via Flickr User Scrap Pile

When I moved to Charleston, SC a couple of years ago, I was thrilled to find an amazing, thriving yoga community. Studios everywhere. Amazing teachers. Fabulous workshops. Excited students. You’d think I’d be right at home–immediately making close friends and becoming a part of the scene. But that’s not what happened.

You might not guess it based on my online personality (if anything, I’m a little TOO eager to get involved in online communities), but when I go to a yoga class.. I’m painfully shy. I unroll my mat and either rest in Child’s Pose (nose squished firmly into my mat) or stare at my toes until class starts. When class is over, I pack it up and I leave. I am not usually one of those students who crowds around the teacher waiting for her turn to ask a question or give a hug. As you might guess, this has made it quite difficult to find my place in the community. (Not to mention the full-time job I had–and now the baby–that made it nearly impossible to attend class regularly.)

But recently, I’ve decided I’m tired of observing. I want to teach again–and not just a little bit, but a lot! I want to really dive in and start sharing my practice with the world in a meaningful way. To do that–I have to find my place in this amazing community.

So I set out on a mission. I started reaching out to teachers I admire in the area and get to know them a little better. I asked them questions about the yoga they teach, the communities they serve, and what newcomers can expect from their classes. I also asked them out for tea or lunch. And because I’m sure that there are others who can benefit from their amazing stories.

In the coming weeks I’m going to share Q&As from the amazing teachers right here in my own beautiful city in a series I’ll call Hometown Yoga Heroes.

But first, I want to know: How did you get involved in your yoga community? Do you have any tips?

Here Come the Yoga Nazis!

Here’s an idea… If you “don’t want the Yoga Nazis coming after you” don’t say stupid, derogatory, rude things like YOGA NAZIS!

And REALLY Fox News?! Really!? “Obviously we have a lot of time on our hands because 20 million people are practicing yoga?” How about we have a HUGE and growing need to manage our stress, get some exercise, and just deal with life in general (not to mention handle the huge amounts of anger that boil our blood every time we turn on your ignorant TV station?) and yoga helps us with all of that. How about THAT?

And while I have to agree with author of “Your Kids Are Your Own Fault” Larry Winget (the guest you chose to be your “expert” on parenting) that yoga is not a sport… He obviously has never set foot in a kids yoga class, most of which are VERY interactive and teach more life lessons than a T-ball game ever could.

I try to keep my rants to a minimum on this blog. And I’m rarely offended by people’s misunderstandings of yoga.. but this one is just SOOOOO ignorant without even an attempt to understand 

UGH! End of rant. I’m going to go do some wussy yoga with my kid now to try to calm down.

 wussification

Monday Mantras

Maybe it’s the weird weather. Maybe it’s the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. It doesn’t really matter WHAT it is.. I’m in a funk. It’s the kind of funk where I eat too much junk food, worry about things that I can’t change, and generally feel down about myself.

In case you’ve been feeling the same way, here are a few little mantras that have been helping me shift my outlook to the positive. Do you have a mantra that makes you feel better when you’re feeling down? Comment below. Let’s make a list so that whoever finds this blog post will find lots of inspirational little nuggets that help them through whatever they’re dealing with–whether it’s a case of the Monday blues or a deeper depression.

Here are my Monday mantras:

Happiness is my birthright.

I forgive myself for all of my mistakes–and celebrate the lessons they let me learn.

I am enough. 

What other people think of me is none of my business.

When in doubt, breathe.

Review + Giveaway: myInsens

science behind incense sticks

“It smells like hippie in here. Are you smoking weed?” This is how my husband greeted me a few days ago when he got home from work.

I probably don’t have to tell you that I had been burning incense in the house–and, no, it wasn’t because I was trying to cover up the smell of weed.

There are all kinds of misunderstandings about incense. As my husband so eloquently pointed out, some people associate the smell with the hippie movement. Nothing quite conjures up memories or experiences quite like the sense of smell. Think of the smell of freshly cut grass in the summer or the sweet smell of cookies baking at Grandma’s house.

For many yoga students who have practiced in a studio that burns incense, the smell immediately brings to mind feelings of calmness and focus that they associate with yoga class. For me incense = yoga class = happy place. The second I light one of those sticks I come into the present moment. It’s almost instantaneous.

The folks at myInsens, a new incense company geared toward yoga practitioners, want to help you recreate that feeling as often as possible. The smell is light, not overwhelming like some incense, and I love that their hand-rolled incense is fair traded and gives back to the villagers that make it. I could spend lots of time trying to describe the product to you, but you really have to try it for yourself!

myInsens has agreed to give one lucky reader a  single individual box of incense in the scent of his/her choice! All you have to do is COMMENT below before December 13 and answer the question:

What scent always reminds you of a memory for you or brings you into the present moment?

I’ll randomly choose a winner and post it in the comments on December 14!

Tools for Teachers

Image Source

I’ve been pondering enrolling in another yoga teacher training. But as much as I long to be a part of a community again and to dive deeply into the philosophy, history, asana, and anatomy for a second time it’s really hard to commit to spending another $3,000 + to get a certification I already have! So I’m going to keep pondering it… but in the meantime, I’ve been reliving my first teacher training by perusing the books I used in teacher training (and laughing at the notes I made in the margins). And I’m also discovering some really fantastic tools that are helping me to become a better teacher, too.

Here are a few of my current favorites.

Yoga for Healthy Aging
Unfortunately, I do not have a photographic memory or a background in healthcare. Now, I know the basics–the parts of the body and contraindications for poses that my teachers refer to again and again–but a lot of my anatomy and medical knowledge went out the window shortly after I got my teaching certificate.

The Yoga for Healthy Aging blog has been a godsend! It’s written by a team of experienced yoga teachers, including medical doctors Baxter Bell and Timothy McCall. It has practical anatomy as it pertains to yoga as well as lots of new, fascinating yoga studies explained in a way that even someone with absolutely no medical knowledge can understand it. I love love LOVE that they have their posts labeled so when I need to reference something like arches of the feet or the shoulder joint, I can find all the posts pertaining to it in the navigation on the right hand side.

Teachasana
This is a website by yoga teachers for yoga teachers, founded by my friends Nancy Alder and Anna Guest-Jelley. There is lots of great information for teachers here–and it’s great community. I love the marketing content written by the folks at Bizeebee. There’s also a monthly challenge–something to focus your teaching energy on–as well as free online workshops, videos with tips on alignment, etc.

Jason Crandell Blog for YogaGlo
Jason Crandell is a teacher I want to be like when I grow up. He’s clear, concise, and confident in his instructions. More importantly, he knows exactly what he wants his students to take away from each class whether it’s attention to a particular movement or a yogic concept. In his blog for YogaGlo he shares his secrets. 

Yoga Journal Teachers Channel
Its not always easy to to navigate, but if you’re patient there’s a wealth of knowledge here. Whether I’m looking for advice about a particular injury or medical condition, looking to clarify my communication, or want marketing ideas, I know I’ll be able to find good advice written by a seasoned and experienced yoga teacher here.

What’s your favorite yoga teaching resource?

The Stinky Truth: Showering is for Suckers

Image via Flickr

It’s confession time.

I didn’t take a shower yesterday. And you know what? I might be a lot stinkier in the days and weeks to come. Here’s why.

I recently read an article about how meditation can help you become a better leader (and, frankly, a better person in general). It was written by someone who should know. A Harvard Business School professor… isn’t that like the leader of the smartest leaders like.. anywhere? It’s a great read–go ahead, see for yourself.

At this point you might be wondering what the heck this has to do with my lack of personal hygiene. Let me explain. I’m a work-from-home mom now, so I juggle my part-time writing work and a baby who sometimes demands more attention than I ever imagined could be possible. My little one is going through a phase (a phase that has lasted pretty much since she was born, except the week or two when she was a newborn and I was pretty sure she hated my guts) where she sleeps approximately 10 minutes when I put her down in her crib for a nap. After that she starts screaming. I go get her. She falls asleep in my arms again. Lather, rinse, repeat.

10 minutes. 10 precious minutes is all I have to do something for myself. In that time, I have a choice to make: I could do a little work. I could write a blog post. I could answer emails. I could shower. OR I could simply close my eyes and pay attention to my breath.

So if I have to be a little stinkier to be a better leader (a.k.a. better mom, better yoga teacher, better writer, and generally a better person) so be it! This is one of the many perks of staying at home–I can be stinky and no one has to know… unless I write about it on my blog… Don’t judge me!

Smell ya later.*

*Direct quote from The Fresh Prince

The Trouble with Thanksgiving

It’s here! Can you believe it’s already Thanksgiving week!? I love what Thanksgiving represents… counting your blessings. spending time with family and friends, enjoying nature’s bounty.

There’s only one problem..

The traditional Thanksgiving feast–especially a traditional Southern Thanksgiving feast–doesn’t leave many options for vegetarians. It’s not as simple as just passing on the turkey, gravy, and stuffing (which, by the way is delicious with vegetable stock instead of turkey). Southerners have a knack for adding meat in the most creative ways! Mashed potatoes are flavored with chicken stock. Green beans have bits of pork floating in them. Cranberries are mixed with Jell-O. The sweet potato casserole has those tiny marshmallows on top.

If you’re someone’s guest, and you know they’ve slaved for hours over a hot stove for YOU, it feels horrible to just keep passing the serving dishes on by because you can’t eat what’s on them.

As a yoga student, I chose a mostly vegetarian diet in the name of ahimsa, or non-harming. It just feels wrong to me to eat animals … but at times like Thanksgiving dinner when you know you might be hurting someone’s feelings (and seem like a high-maintenance, ungrateful snot in the process) … well, that just doesn’t seem right either. Have you ever tried explaining vegetarianism to a 90-year-old grandma who lived through the Great Depression? She thinks you should be grateful to have a plate full of food–not worrying over whether it has chicken stock in it. It’s Thanksgiving, for crying out loud! There are no winners in this situation.

I’m hosting Thanksgiving dinner for the first time this year, which means I can make sure I’m not eating meat products for the first time ever! Hooray! (Public Service Announcement: If something has “just a little bit” of bacon in it, your vegetarian guests still don’t want to eat it.) But I’m struggling with having a turkey and other traditional foods that I know my guests will want. I don’t want to be the reason that others don’t enjoy their holiday in the way they choose to celebrate it, but I also know there are lots of other fantastic options.

So, I’m asking for advice from other vegetarians out there. How do you handle this delicate situation either as a guest or a host during the holidays?

Hardly Working Yoga Teachers

This new video from College Humor is a funny, but really exaggerated look at how some yoga classes seem. Beware of the  uncomfortable Savasana adjustment, weird New Age talk that doesn’t make sense, and contradictory instructions.

Has anyone else ever experienced any of the yoga teacher mistakes featured in this video?

Book Review: enLIGHTened: How I Lost 40 Pounds With a Yoga Mat

I know it’s only November, but do you have a New Year’s Resolution yet? Many of us start to think about what goals we’d like to set for the next year around this time. I don’t really like New Year’s Resolutions, but there’s one thing I’m determined to change–the food I feed myself and my family on a daily basis.

See, I have a baby who just started eating solid foods. And, being the yoga mama that I am, I am making my own baby food for her from fresh, organic, local when possible vegetables and fruits. It might sound hard, but it’s actually super easy to make a big batch and freeze it into individual servings in ice cube trays. So I’m making an effort there, but I realized I’m putting forth all this effort to make sure my baby eats healthy foods while I serve frozen pizza to my husband and myself… something just doesn’t add up. It won’t be long until my little one will be eating the same foods I make for us, so if I want to keep her on the healthy foods track I need to find healthier options. (And applying the same, make a big-batch-and-freeze-for-later mentality I’m realizing it doesn’t have to be much more effort than going to the grocery store to buy frozen pizza.)

Just when I was coming to this conclusion, I got a little surprise in my mailbox.

enLIGHTened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples, and a Beagle Pointer, now in paperback, tells a story of how my YJ blogging colleague Jessica Berger Gross changed her relationship to food through her yoga practice. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you I couldn’t put it down. I could relate to many of her struggles. The advice she offers is practical and simple enough that I could start putting it into action easily. The focus isn’t really on weight loss so much as eating reasonably and getting exercise. In my experience if that’s the focus everything else will fall into place–whether you need to lose weight, manage stress, or work your way out of depression–taking care of yourself in this way is a great start.

I’m not really interested in losing weight. Despite my admittedly rather poor eating habits (I’m a junk food vegetarian), I’ve been a healthy weight for most of my life. I managed to lose my extra baby weight within a month after giving birth (I attribute this to yoga and the fact that I didn’t gain much because I was nauseous for most of my pregnancy). But enLIGHTened reminded me of the importance of eating right, taking long walks, and putting my health as a top priority no matter how many other things are happening in my life. And I’m also a  little obsessed with the veggie chilli recipe in her book–I’d never thought to put broccoli in chilli, but it is yumm-O.

BTW, yesterday I asked my Twitter friends to share their favorite vegetarian recipes with me. Here are a few of my most recent favorites! (Add yours to the comment section below, please!)

Little Quinoa Patties
Mexican Black Bean Enchilada Casserole
Veggie Jambalaya

About Spoiled Yogi

Erica Rodefer Winters is a yoga teacher who loves helping pregnant and new moms find more balance in life through yoga, meditation, self-care, and humor.

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