Charleston Yogi

I was walking out of a Boot Camp class that I teach when I overheard one of our members speaking to another saying they could never do “that kind of workout”.  It made me pause and ask why.  One woman was in her mid to late 30’s.  The other member was in her early to mid 50’s. They both seem to describe themselves the same.   “I eat pretty well and I exercise on a regular basis but I just don’t see the results.” Now, keep in mind that I manage a relatively small club and know most of my members/clients.  I can’t speak to these two ladies’ diets but I do see them workout.  Yes, they may be at the facility two to five times a week, but their intensity is a 4 or 5 out of 10.

 
In order to elicit a change in your body you must push your limits. Intensity can be defined as great energy, strength, concentration, violence, forcefulness, or passion, as an activity, thought, or feeling.  I often hear, “I walk my dog every day…” but how many people walk with any kind of purpose, passion, or intensity? Have you ever  performed an exercise half way through range of motion? Or “sorta”  completed a yoga pose?  And do you break a sweat?  Or get out of breath?   These are signs in which you are working hard. There are plenty of ways to increase your intensity–which will help you want to workout or improve your current regimen.  Here are just a few:

·         Try listening to music that gets you going

·         Take a group fitness class or workout with friends or a significant other

·         Set a specific goal that you want to work towards.  (i.e. Run your first 5K.  Fit into a certain size dress. Compete in a sporting event.)

·         Workout with Bo Knows Fitness owner, Bo Taylor! 

In order to get a “10” body, you need to put in a “10” effort to your workout and nutrition.  Take time to analyze your workout(s) or lack thereof, and ask yourself if you are working out intently.

 
Bo Taylor, M.Ed, is the Fitness & Aquatics Manager at the Daniel Island Club & owner of Bo Knows Fitness.

Bo can be reached at 843.478.8888, or check out www.boknowsfitness.com.

I’ve subbed quite a few classes over the years and have been quite surprised when the students were asked what yoga was.  They answered “Postures; a way to relax; a snack made from fermented milk and bacteria cultures?”  It’s difficult sometimes to determine the true purpose of doing something.  “I’m working at _____________to get money for rent, kids, to make the world a better place, to get out of the house, etc”.

There are many reasons for doing something.  The practices of yoga, however, spells it out for us: yoga=union.  śrī Brahmananda Saraswati defines yoga as “The state of missing nothing.”  Once we unite things we are no longer able to tell them apart.  Through the consistent application of the principles of yoga, we will find that happiness and peace extend beyond our daily yoga class, perhaps beyond the gross physical into the subtle energetic, emotional, and mental.  So if that is your purpose for practicing yoga, read on.

We may practice asana.  Asana purifies karma: past actions.  The process then requires us not to create the same karma we purged ourselves of.  Otherwise, it is like going to the gym and burning 500 calories, then immediately eating a snack which contains 500 calories.  We don’t get anywhere.  We want to purify more karma than we create, or at least create less harmful karma. ie: by eating vegetables instead of other sentient beings.  How can we expect to reach a state of union, eternal bliss, when we deprive others of happiness by seeing them as ours to eat?  It’s no coincidence that yoga practitioners who adopt a vegetarian diet are more flexible than meat eaters.

śrī K. Pattabhi Jois, the aṣṭāṇga yoga guru, when questioned on the subject of meat eating and yoga:
Questioner: “Some yoga teachers say that a vegetarian diet is not necessary.”
Guruji: (laughing) “Oh… a new method!”
Q: “Many Indians and Westerners eat meat.”
Guruji: ”They are not practicing yoga.  Meat eating makes you stiff.”
Q: “What is the most important Yogic practice in this time?”
Guruji:  “Vegetarian diet is the most important practice for Yoga.”

महर्षि पतञ्जलि योग सूत्र ।१।
अहिंसा प्रतिष्ठायां तत् संनिधौ वैर त्यागः॥३५॥
Maharṣi Patañjali Yoga Sūtra |1|
ahiṁsā pratiṣṭhāyāṁ tat saṁnidhau vaira tyāgaḥ ||35||
When in the presence of one firmly established in non violence, all hostilities cease.

If we have not yet reached the goal of yoga and still perceive others, the Yama are guidelines as to how we must treat them to maintain the serenity of our minds.  Master Patañjali gives the first limb of the eight limbed path of Yoga as Yama: that which we do to others.  Ahimsa, or non-harming, is the first practice of the first limb.

All our yoga practices must, if we still believe in the goal of yoga, be based upon a solid scriptural source.  We cannot simply create or disregard that which is inconvenient.  If I wish to bake a chocolate cake (vegan, of course) I cannot leave out the sugar simply because I don’t have it.  The result will not be the same as if I used it.  These sutra are also commonly translated and manipulated to suit us: “I practice ahimsa toward myself, I don’t want to hurt myself, so I eat meat.”  What!?  Meat itself is harmful, both spiritually, as our bodies become the graves of murdered beings, and physically, as our bodies are not suited for meat consumption.  Further, there is no nutrient necessary to our survival that can only be gained from the consumption of meat.

Master Patañjali gives the first two limbs as: Yama-Restraints, that which we do to others and Niyama-Observances, that which we do to ourselves ie: cleanliness, contentment…  After introducing each Yama specifically ie. ahiṁsā, he then gives the benefit to the sadhak (spiritual practitioner) pratiṣṭhāyāṁ tat saṁnidhau vaira tyāgaḥ.  This would be redundant if the Yama were indeed practices we do to ourselves.  With this in mind we could turn it into the negative:  One who is firmly established in violence or who causes violence to be performed will continuously encounter violence.
 
The Ethic of Reciprocity states “Do not do to others what you would not like to be done to you.”  This is actually an evolution of the commonly known Golden Rule.  Every wisdom tradition has a similar version.

We get closer to Yoga when we realize that if we do something to another it will eventually come back to us. Keeping this in mind we strive to practice compassion in our food choices by choosing not to contribute to the suffering of others.  We attain Yoga when we realize there are no others.

We may not practice Asana every day but we eat every day, sometimes more than once.  Our fork can be a weapon of mass destruction.

ॐ शान्ति शान्ति शान्तिः
om śānti śānti śāntiḥ

Mark Knowles
Certified Jivamukti Yoga Teacher
www.bahamayogi.com
843.991.2272

In the matter of two weeks my washing machine, car alternator, computer and camera broke. Thank God for Holy Yoga! These are the times we take our practice off our mat and breathe. As a stay-at-home momma of two boys under four, wife of very busy husband who owns Five Loaves Café and Sesame, and part time yoga teacher, I couldn’t help but have a pity party and thought, “If one more thing breaks, I think I am going to break too!”

True test of character is revealed in the midst of stress. An unknown author wrote, “Peace doesn’t mean to be free from noise, hard work, or trouble, but it means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.” Despite the inconvenience and frustration, the light bulb goes off inside that I can’t change my circumstances, but I CAN change my mind about them. These external sources which we need of course to make our lives run efficiently when removed teach us something about our reliance on our internal source and humility in asking others for help. If none of those things had broken, I would have missed out on the humbling opportunities of bringing my clothes to a friend’s to wash, or receive rides home with my kids, and experience the willingness of those around me to lend a helping hand.

So what does life look like when the things we rely on daily are removed? It can become a living experience off the mat of withdrawal (pratyahara), the fifth limb of the yoga which is part of the Eight Limb path to wellness. I refer to it as the “AA”approach to yoga. I personally realized how much unnecessary time I spent on the computer and how living unplugged allowed me more precious present time with my loved ones. A check here and check there of emails, Facebook, etc., add up and this time has been truly enlightening in the fact that it is much easier to live without something then it is to live with something and create boundaries. The first limb of yoga Yama means “restraint.” MMMMMMM….The challenge is now: can we live unplugged and be plugged in at all times? “We can through Christ who strengthens us.” So refreshing to know that in our weakness, He is The Source of Strength. It is through the noise, hard work and trouble that we experience deeper spaces of gratitude and thanksgiving for all that is.

Peace and Health,

Rachel Glowacki, RYT

www.sunraeyoga.com

5 Daily Invitations to live unplugged

1. Avoid cell phone use while driving… (I know. So hard!) Commit to at least one route a day and observe your commitment.

2. Depending on your profession, consider what works best for you and discipline self to a daily AM and PM time of checking e-mails, Facebook, Twitter, and surfing the net.

3. When we look at the clock, may it remind us that The Creator Himself is the author of all time.

4. When our phone batteries run out, call on the Lord.

5. Find a silent yoga class or create one at home that moves to the rhythm of the breath instead of music.

Who doesn’t love music!? It can bring us deeper into our practice, keep the yoga flow moving, remind us to smile during that difficult hold, and even help us release and forget about all the junk we keep in our heads.  Here’s one of our favorite yoga playlists. Feel free to post comments below with your favorite songs for YogiTunes #2!

 

The Sprout, An Organic Café does it one Sprout Burger at a Time

by Georgia Schrubbe

posted by Caroline Brennan

Some people don’t really think about what they’re eating or where it came from. Even when we make a choice that is bad for us, we eat it because it’s convenient, not stopping to consider it clogging our arteries and contributing to the depletion of the ozone layer.

   Luckily, there is an accessible alternative in the vegan, organic, raw, and sustainable options of the recently opened Sprout Café.

   Accessible through the doors of Seeking Indigo on 445 King or around the corner on 7 Radcliffe, The Sprout is a little grab-and-go vegan café sprouted from its parent café in Mount Pleasant.

   Owner Mickey Brennan has set up shop at the Marion Square Farmer’s Market every Saturday with enthusiastic patrons, so he decided to plant a permanent Sprout in downtown Charleston.

   “Getting into that space primarily was to just see how everybody would receive it. We plan on expanding…It’s more of a little sprout- It’s going to sprout bigger,” says Brennan.

   Brennan feels confident that The Sprout will be well received because of the distinctiveness of the fare, and The Sprout’s commitment to sustainability and organic, locally produced ingredients.

  “We’re something different to the market. You can go anywhere and get shrimp and grits or a burger, but where else can you go to get a casein, gluten-free vegan entrée?” Brennan says.

   These entrees are not the bland, gray tofu-pretending-to-be-meat options typically associated with vegans, but instead creative combinations of vegetables and punchy flavors that make you forget that what you’re eating hasn’t even been cooked.

   One of Brennan’s specialties is The Sprout Burger, a spicy patty made of ginger, walnut, and portabella mushrooms, topped with a puree of jalapenos, tamari, red onions, carrots and peppers, all on a bun made of “sprouted” grains. The Burger is unexpectedly punchy and filling, even though it is completely raw and doesn’t have gluten, casein, wheat, soy, or dairy.

  The Sprout also serves a raw version of Pad Thai, with noodles constructed out of zuchinni and carrot spirals and covered with the Sprout’s vegan version of a pungent peanut sauce.

   Still skeptical? Brennan encourages everyone to step outside of his or her culinary comfort zone and give the Sprout a chance.

   “I only make food that I like. It’s going to taste good, you just have to give it a try,” he says.

   With almost everything on the menu under $10, trying out the Sprout won’t break the bank, and it will help contribute to the Sprout’s mission of raising the level of health in the world!

   “The object of our business when we set out was not to make a million dollars. It was to improve the life and the health of the world, and that is what we do” says Brennan.

   So next time you are tempted to settle for food that is not good to the earth or your body, head instead to The Sprout for an organic Harvest Burrito packaged in a 100 % biodegradable and compostable container and raise your glass of kombucha to the health of the world.

www.thehealthysprout.com