Keep on Jammin'

So this weekend's Yoga Jam session with Kira Ryder at Lulu Bandhas inspired me to start a blog. Kira is one of my favorite teachers, and I feel so lucky whenever I get to practice with her! I have never entered into the world of blogging before, so I feel like I somehow have to have a thesis statement or something in order to make it more legit!

Hmm.

OK: The purpose of this blog is to track my own yoga practice and healing path, and to share inspirations and lessons that I have experienced. I will be posting classes that I teach, maybe some home practice sequences, discoveries I make, etc.

Maybe at some point I will link to cool things that I discover too. (Of course, I need to figure out how to work this thing first. Sorry--For now, you are stuck with text.)

I am realizing that I am setting a precedent in my blog by using capitalization, which I don't really do in my real life. Better switch that habit now, before people start expecting it.

ah...that's better.

i just realized that i am blogging about the process of blogging, which is not the intention of this blog.

so time to switch it up.

The beauty of an active practice

i admit that i am a lazy yogi. i work a lot, so when i get home, the last thing i want to do is move around and WORK. i am not an avid aerobic/athletic exerciser...occasionally i will walk or hike. but i love how yoga makes me feel, so i have defaulted to a more restorative and yin style practice.

for the past year or two, i have been immersed in yin and gentle styles of yoga. i have also been immersed in learning and playing with a lot of bodywork techniques dealing with the connective tissue. so yin is a natural fit for my interests. as i have practiced this style of yoga, i have explored the postures in many new ways, and made up several of my own, just because they feel GOOD. (don't tell the yin masters, please). in this exploration, i have accessed some really interesting "tight spots" in my body and in my emotional and mental layers. i have learned when to breathe and hang out there, when to move, how to open and deepen areas that haven't seen light in a REALLY long time.

the yin-esque practice i was doing was really working for me. my awareness of the subtle increased, i felt inspired and it held my interest more than any other style had...it brought me closer to Yoga, to expansiveness, to FEELING--a skill that takes a lot of practice. (at least it took ME a lot of practice).

so why do any other sort of practice?

this weekend, while practicing with kira and my lulu friends, i actually said, "sometimes i feel like i should have a stronger practice, harden my edges a bit more". quickly to follow with, "but most of the time i think, 'what's the point?'". i realized that what i had said was kind of funny, but i really did believe that--what IS the point? i'm getting SO MUCH from my practice as it is now. do i really need to do a stronger practice?

fortunately, i didn't need to look very far for the answer. on day 2, kira led us through a practice that did modified sun-salutes. (what? how do you do those again?) AND we even did a couple of chaturangas! it was geared toward opening the chakras and had a subtle anatomy bent (phew--not TOO far out of the comfort zone, please), but it was an ACTIVE practice.

when the class was finished, i felt so ALIVE and VITAL...then i remembered...new pranic pathways and stores get discovered and built up during the yin-esque yoga that i do. but it takes MOVEMENT to actually move the prana. i knew that. it was in my head. they tell you these things in yoga classes. but i had forgotten, because i hadn't really FELT it in such a profound way before.

thank you, jam session peeps! :)