Charleston Yogi

Recently, I received a complaint from a student about the music choice I had chosen for savasana. I had never received a complaint before about my playlists, but this one had said it was not yogic. The song, granted, could be seen as offensive (which I warned the class prior to playing it) but the message was positive and needed, in my opinion, to be shared with the class. The songs I play in my classes are not the soft music with Tibetan bowls or anything played by Krishna Das. My music is typically music I like and associate with. Currently this is a lot of indie rock and a lot of these songs are loud and fast. Occasionally I will throw in some hip hop or a playlist dedicated to 90’s alternative music. But the idea that a song is not yogic to me is ludicrous. Its not the music, the beat or the meaning that is important. Its the focus one has toward the music.

This brought up an interesting topic that is usually overlooked in our practice. That is music’s place in yoga classes. Traditionalists could say that there shouldn’t be any music. Contemporaries could say use it as it adds to the flow of the class. When I started out teaching, I believed in the former and that music deserved no place. Yoga needed a place to be sacred and nature is the most sacred sound. Today though, I see it completely different. Music should be used as it enhances our practice and actually challenges us further.

Yoga has the ability to allow our minds to focus. This actually is a much harder task than even the hardest of poses or sequences. Think of your mind as a muscle and focusing on one object for a certain time requires constant practice. This exercise is often in combat with our monkey mind and any thoughts that pop up to interrupt our practice. An hour yoga class becomes rather difficult to focus the entire time but constant effort and practice allow this focus to sharpen itself.

There are two ways to focus during a class. The first is to focus on one thing. This could be an intention, your breath or your movement in your poses. The idea is to never leave your mat and allow all other distractions to not even be a concern. The second way to focus is to accept and welcome the entire environment around you and allow yourself to move freely through it. It may seem like a farce to say to focus on your environment, but allowing yourself to use all five senses to equally take in everything and be amazed by your surroundings is a way to shift your attention to the present. All distractions than are natural and cease to become distractions. Focus itself than is either attention on one thing or all things.

Music itself than becomes a way to hone your focus. Whichever focus is chosen, music can play a part. If the chosen focus is to concentrate on one point, music is a challenge to not focus on it. Think of meditating. Meditating is great when it is completely silent but a struggle when there are tons of outside noises that can distract. Is life silent? Does the world stop making noises when you want to sit? The answers are no. Meditation and focus require a challenge of sorts to keep us strong in what we want to focus on. Music than becomes a challenge to maintain we keep our focus, so that it may make us stronger in our practice. On the other hand if the focus is drawn to the equality of five senses and the present, music becomes part of our environment. When this occurs, the beat gets into our head and the music takes us. We become a part of the song and it lifts us to whatever feeling it is giving us, whether it is slow or fast.

Usually, I offer a choice of songs for savasana. I ask the class “Happy or beautiful?” These refer to two songs I absolutely love and fit perfectly for final relaxation. They are Sigur Ros’ Festival and Ara Batur. These songs emit the wonderful feelings for finishing a great class. It was these two songs that made me want to use music the way I do and without apology. Songs can lift us, move us and put us in places we are uncomfortable with. It seems like yoga and music are similar in that fashion. Why wouldn’t they be shared together?

Harry Dinwiddie will be exploring mixing music, yoga and art as he will be teaching a new class at Eye Level Art at 103 Spring St. Tuesday nights at 6:30 starting Feb 16.

The alarm rings and I barely stir.  My muscles are sore, still tired and though the sun is starting to come out all I want to do is bury my head in the covers.  I am instantly faced with a choice and this decision will determine the course of everything. 
I have come to realize that choosing ‘comfort’ rarely leads to it, but only makes me more uncomfortable.  As I unroll my mat I start to wonder what the next hour and ½ will bring.  Will I be able to do it?  Will they ask me to do something difficult, or worse yet something that I don’t want to do?  And then I smile, knowing that choosing authentic development is a harsh mistress, indeed.  The things I fear will always be hurled right in my path and I know the answer is ‘yes’ to all of the above.  I will again be faced with a choice and this decision will determine the course of everything.  
We have been in warrior II for at least a minute.  My legs are starting to shake, I want to give up, and then he says ‘are you breathing?’….oh, right I forgot about that part.  The minute I inhale that sweet dose of oxygen, I feel everything release and I move into a place of ease.  He walks up behind me and puts his hands on my shoulders, moving them down a few inches.  My neck and shoulder blades begin to release and I wonder how I didn’t even realize how hard they were working?  Why is it that trying so hard is, well…so hard?  It was only four years ago in this very class that I began to discover that resistance is so much more difficult than surrender.  That trying to be perfect at every asana was so much more difficult than allowing myself to melt into it with ease.  Many of us consistently move through our day with absolute confidence that we are actually in charge.  We fool ourselves into thinking that we consciously know what ‘perfection’ is and that we can attain it whenever we want. 
This practice is based on the premise of cultivating awareness of where we are in relation to time, space, and the continuum of development.  I am always grateful to reach that perfect balance in class when I am pushed far enough to be uncomfortable, while simultaneously given enough time to be present inside of my head, alone with my thoughts even for just a few seconds.  In the middle of this struggle I am challenged to be still in the face of the internal chaos.  As I am confronted with the limits of my abilities, I am also given the opportunity to witness how interested I truly am in development.  When I focus on where I am and where I want to be, I know I have to ‘mind the gap’ between what I know and how I am living.  The practice isn’t over when I roll up my mat and walk out of the studio.  It is only just beginning.  I know that I will be given hundreds of opportunities to close the gap between what I know and how I am walking my talk, and the choice that I make in that moment will determine everything.

 
Amy Jo Gengler, LAc
Re-Soul Acupuncture & Chinese Herbal Medicine

843.566.2855

www.re-soul.com

All of us have been shocked and saddened by the news of a devastating earthquake that struck the nation of Haiti on Tuesday, January 12th. Reports estimate that 3 million people have been affected, with as many as 100,000 feared dead. Many people have been wondering how they can help respond to this tragedy and ease the suffering of Haiti.

On Wednesday, January 20th from 6 to 8 PM, a benefit yoga class will be offered at the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture. A $10 donation at the door is suggested. All proceeds from the class will go to Partners in Health, an agency that has been working on the ground in Haiti for over 20 years. Your donations will go towards vital medical care desperately needed by those impacted by the earthquake.

Yoga, more than just a form of exercise, is a tool for creating harmony, compassion, and peace – both within ourselves and in the world we share. No prior yoga experience is necessary. There will also be a time for quiet meditation and prayer for those affected by this tragedy.

The class will be taught by Matthew Foley, a Yoga Alliance Certified Instructor. Music will be provided by DJ Anwar Staggers.

For more information, please contact Matthew Foley at (803)361-3842 or foleym@cofc.edu.

$10 Donation Suggested

For me, yoga is a practice.  It is not a performance, not an on-again-off-again thing, nor is it perfect. In this practice I have found a lifestyle–a way of moving and flowing and being that keeps me and my ego in checkity-check mode! 

We all have them–egos that is.  But what do we do with them?  To me, humility is huge.  Humility is being brought to my knees after falling down a time or twenty in handstand and getting back up.  It is coming right back to my mat with a smile and tear after my mother’s death, expressing that loss in the form of movement and receiving energy from the practice.  It’s moving deeper into my faith after many sleepless nights, on hands and knees in deep prayer and meditation after a longtime relationship fell apart, then picking up the pieces (or lessons) from it all, understanding and taking what I need from that moment, inhaling a deep breath, then moving on.  Most can relate…right? 

I believe yoga should be accessible to all types of hearts, souls, bodies, and minds.  Many of us start our yoga journey on the mat…we then take the choice of conscious movement and intention and apply it to other areas of life–eating, socializing, sharing, speaking, loving, and connecting.  On the mat, we deepen our understanding of compassion for ourselves and then dedicate that same expression of compassion to the rest of the world as a whole.  Personally, if I come to class and take care of myself, then once I roll my mat up and go back out onto the street and see someone who needs a hand, a dollar, a ride, or a meal, I feel more open to give.  And in turn, when I am down, I feel deserving of receiving that same love. 

Power Yoga also pushes me to my edge, takes me right out of my comfort zone and challenges me. This too is a HUGE help in my life off the mat.  When I am in a situation that is uncomfortable or challenging, I no longer run away or get pissed off, but rather breath and see the lesson in it all.

The practice of yoga is so humbling and beautiful and whole.  Yoga can touch all areas of our lives, leading to a greater understanding of liberation from attachment, faith, connectedness, love, and so much more.  I believe a strong dedication to the physical practice–every day on the mat, moving energy and cleaning out the body–is a huge tool in creating a sense of balance and well being.  I really could go on and on, however, I have a class to get too so with that being said… I hope to see you on the mat soon or on the street for a chat and hug! 

Namaste People!

Sarah Finn

Charleston Power Yoga

See us in action!

On Saturday, November 21, I attended a yoga workshop at Atmah Ja’s, The Art of Core Consciousness, yoga/massage studio and art gallery.   The workshop was titled “The Alchemy of Silk,” and was designed to inspire the potential to experience the abundant and ever infinite dream texture in which we exist.

I first discovered The Art of Core Consciousness in early October during one of my favorite Charleston events, the French Quarter Art Walk.  When I stepped into the studio for the first time, I immediately felt a striking presence spinning about the room.  The studio is a fantastic space, and features the beautiful artwork of Iamikan.  In many of his pieces, Iamikan uses oil and acrylics in such a way that the material seems to remain in its liquid form, surging with energy behind its glass coat.  His pieces are quite unique to the Charleston area–or to anything I’ve ever seen, for that matter–and possess an immense amount of livelihood.

In speaking with Atmah Ja, the creator of The Art of Core Consciousness, I discovered that in addition to art and massage, the studio offers yoga.  Atmah Ja created the space to share her passion for these three mediums and to offer courses from a rich and varied yoga practice, stemming from her world travel and intermingling with many awakened beings.  Now as a seasoned art enthusiast, and a somewhat new (but so eager to grow) yogi, I was thrilled by this opportunity to experience the two at once, where I imagined one could thrive and expand through the other, enhancing the experience of each. 

Early into Saturday morning’s “Alchemy” experience, Atmah Ja made sure that all of the participants got to know each other and went on to say, “What happens in the alchemy of a yoga workshop is the opportunity to experience oneself in a collective-connective consciousness. We are all linked through a unified force as we come together with an intention and just as it takes a mere thread to hold together silk, there is a thread that connects all beings.   She shared, “It is not the yoga itself that is the catalyst… but rather what the yoga opens inside of us to explore and expand.  It is in that place of silence in the meditative mind, that the infinite lies.”

Now every yogi has their niche in yoga, and over the past 6 months I have come to find mine in power vinyasa flow.  But what I discovered on Saturday is the importance of venturing out of your “box” and changing your pace; your routine.  In Atmah Ja’s class, we moved at a slower pace, but held poses for much longer than I’m used to.  We did so in order to observe the energy as it travels through the body.  I was able to find a strength in familiar poses that I didn’t know existed.  And of course, I was introduced to new movements that I am happy to add to my practice.

But Atmah Ja’s experience is not souly about the movement, but emphasizes reflection, discovery, and empowering the consciousness.

Atmah Ja has a beautiful way with words and meditation, and I would like to share with you some of the reflection she shared with us:

“Our thoughts are like radio waves.”  Though people cannot hear our thoughts, our thoughts, attitudes and intentions are vibrations that can be felt by others and are always being sent and received through our “antenna”.  It is through each thought transmission that we create our reality.

“We were birthed by our own desire to live, love and play and by that desire, or thought, we created ourselves into existence and continue to rebirth ourselves based on that which is unfulfilled.”

“This is your canvas, your life, use the brush of imagination to paint it as you will.  Express yourself with passion and purpose, thereby nourishing in the substantive well of infinite creative bliss, that is your birth right..

In addition to the internal reflection and self-discovery I found during Atmah Ja’s workshop, I found connection between yoga and art–the thread I had hoped to discover in this particular space on that beautiful Southern fall morning.  Just as in art, yoga is imaginative.  It pulls from a deep place within you. Both practices challenge you to pull this beauty and energy you find in your heart and mind and bring it into the physical world through movement or creation, which can then be shared with others. 

If you missed out on The Alchemy of Silk, it’s not too late–Atmah Ja will lead a follow-up workshop on Saturday, December 12 at 9:30 am.  Registration is required, so check out www.atmahjas.com for more information.