Give Presence

This time of year can be hard. There are parties to go to, trips to pack for, presents to buy, cards to send, decorations to hang, the list goes on and on. Often times we rush around for weeks before the holidays, only finding peace and relaxation once they are over.

For me I stress a lot about gifts I am buying for friends and family. I want the gift to be special and meaningful. I want the receiver to open the gift and smile, not because the gift is the newest, trendiest item, but because the gift has some sort of personal meaning and was well thought out. Don’t get me wrong, the gift doesn’t have to have some profound deeper-meaning, I just like it to be personal and show that I spent at least a few minutes thinking about that person before I whipped out my credit card.

If you follow Lululemon on any form of social media you are probably well aware of their “give presence” campaign. They are urging people to try and be present in whatever they are doing. Whether it is in a yoga class, at your child’s school play, at lunch with a friend, they want people to focus on exactly what they are doing and who they are with at a certain moment, rather than all the other distractions that we are often bombarded with. This is hard. I have tried it, and it’s hard. Even if you fully prepare yourself to do this by putting away your phone or ignoring your emails for an hour, how do you stay present at lunch with a friend if they are still doing all those things?

This holiday season I urge you, along with the other gifts you give, to give presence as well. Engage fully in your conversations, breathe deeply in your yoga classes, and spend some an extra minute enjoying your surroundings.

Photo by: Jessica Jenkins

Even Santa struggles giving presence

-Ali

“The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.”
― Thích Nhất Hạnh,

Even Santa needs to get his yoga on!

Up Dog!

 

 

 

 

 

 

ok readers….. it’s that time of year again and we all begin to find ourselves feeling short on time and stressed to the max!  The holidays are here, and for many of us, while they do provide much pleasure, we find ourselves feeling ill equipped to manage our “to do” lists.  This is where our yoga practice can be put to the test!

A funny thing happened the other day at a local produce farm I frequent with my boys on the way home from school.  We popped in with the agenda of grabbing an after school snack for the long ride home, and stumbled upon a young couple with their two, small, beautiful children.  They had a different agenda.  They were looking to get a Christmas tree, fairly early on in the season and in my opinion,  there was quite a healthy selection of trees!  Here’s the funny/sad part, and many of us fall prey to this task of “finding the perfect tree”, but they were all miserable.  They couldn’t agree on a tree and the mom ended up getting visibly upset and shouting at her husband and small children.  She looked at them and said “you all drive me nuts”!  Well, I couldn’t help myself.  I looked the dad warmly in the eyes, carrying one child in his arms and holding another by the hand, and I gave him a chuckle.  I’ve been there.  I get it.  Christmas is hard, and playing Santa is even harder, but only if we let it be.

This season try not to let the Holiday noose strangle you.  Try and find time for your yoga practice.  Get on your mat every day.  Slow yourself down.  Listen to Christmas music in the car.  Warm some cider on the stove.  Wrap something you already own if you can’t afford gifts this year and give from your heart.  Even Santa Claus needs to find time to get his yoga on!

Jen

In Conclusion

I have to admit, I am sort of sad that the twelve day’s are over. I’m not gonna lie and say the 12 days (which actually was more like 18 for me and 25 for Jen) was easy. It definitely was not. It was hard, in a good way though. Committing to something and sticking to it makes hard things completely worthwhile. The funny thing about this challenge is that it’s not like Jen and I started out as couch potatoes and decided to do yoga for 12 days. We are both really active! We have trained for ½ marathons, sprint triathlons, and bike races together, and we have been practicing yoga for years. I think the real challenge here was the idea of blogging about something we are both passionate about. Jen is an amazing writer and has some of the most creative ideas I have ever heard/seen, and I graduated from Boston College with an English degree. A blog was the perfect way for both of us to express our thoughts with each other, and its also pretty cool that other people enjoyed reading what we had to say!

What I learned: I learned a lot during these 12 days. The first and most beneficial lesson I learned was, to quote Jen’s blog title, yoga calms me. I honestly felt like nothing could bother me during the 12 days of yoga. Little things that normally got me riled up didn’t faze me, and I was overall more positive in a lot of aspects of my life. Any stress or anxiety I was feeling was gone after a yoga class, and this was something I hadn’t totally recognized before. It is good to know I have a remedy for instances when I am feeling defeated or depressed. I also learned that I like every single item in Lululemon. It’s hard not to be obsessed with a product that is so well made and also so cute, but during these 12 days I found myself browsing in Lululemon more than I often do (my excuse will be that I was Christmas shopping). I was able to restrain myself, but I will say, I never walked out of the store without a mental list of new things I wanted. I also learned about blogging. I have never blogged before, nor have I ever been someone who religiously reads other blogs (besides barstoolsports.com), so it’s been eye opening to read all the different types and genres of blogs that exist. One more thing. I learned that not everyone will care about everything, or anything for that matter, that I write. I didn’t publicize this blog on facebook or twitter. I only sent the link in an email to a few of my close friends. The response was sort of what I expected. Although all my friends love exercise, none of them like yoga, so I figured this blog probably would not be of interest to them. I never nagged them to read it or probed them for responses because I honestly wasn’t really doing this for other people as much as I was for myself. My good friend Mila did have a great response, which I loved:

Response 1 (to my email telling her about the blog but before actually reading the blog):

“Go Ali! Proud of you. Now I can turn on some country music, mix up a little vodka soda splash of cran, read your blog and it will be like we are hanging out!!”

Response 2 (after reading):

“Ali! I just actually read your blog. Earlier when I responded I was just pretending to care and be a friend. Now that I have actually read it I am so impressed. You are such a talented writer!

I thought your comment about being still and using help was incredibly insightful and something I probably need to think more about. I’m like totalllllyyyy going to read your blog for the next 12 days.”

Sooooo…even though Christmas has come and gone, the blog is going nowhere (it will still be twelvedaysofchristmasblog.com even in July!). Jen and I have a lot of different ideas for the future including experimenting with other 12-day challenges, but for a little while it will focus on a little bit of everything; fitness, family, pop culture, current events, and of course we will still write about the amazing yoga classes we attend. Definitely keep reading and any suggestions, comments, or questions are welcomed J Also, check out Jen’s blog afewofmyfavoritethingsblog.com.

In conclusion to what seems like an acceptance speech to winning an Emmy (the music telling me to get off stage has started), I want to thank all the amazing teachers and studios that we visited during the twelve days. I know there are so many more that we weren’t able to get to. I also want to thank my family and friends who read the blog as well as all the followers and commenter’s!  Lastly, I want to thank Jen for inspiring me to take on this challenge and for adding another perspective to this blog (more than one perspective is always a good thing). I hope everyone has a happy and healthy new year!

Moral of the twelvedaysofchristmasblog.com:

1. Be still. Help is ok. Sometimes not doing anything is actually what you are supposed to be doing!
2. Control can quickly be lost. Sometimes you don’t know what you need until after you have it.
3. Instead of filling your schedule with things that you have to do, try putting things on your schedule that you are NOT going to do.
4. Find joy in your pose.
5. Our health is our greatest strength.
6. Sometimes the things that are important are deeper then what we see on the surface.
7. Sometimes regret can be worse than any other feeling you may have.
8. Sometime’s you just have to get the hang out of something before it becomes possible.
9. Deal with things one step/breath at a time.
10. Try to become “unstuck” every so often.
11. If you pick your battles you will have so much more energy for the important things.
12. Timing (or unawareness of) is everything. Sometimes it is important to be aware of time, sometimes it is important to not be.

(I’m stealing Jen’s quote because there is no other way to say it better)

“No love, no friendship can cross the path of our destiny without leaving some mark on it forever”

-Francois Muriac

Timing

Day 12 – Mid Day Flow w/ Jamie Villanueva-12-???-Stil Studio

I have heard only good things about Stil but have never actually attended a class there. For some reason I was not convinced that a yoga studio in the middle of Legacy Place could be relaxing. All I envisioned was the mad rush to find parking, the stressed out shoppers, and the whining kids forced to do last minute errands with their parents. When I got to class I was shocked by how opposite the reality of the scene was from the scene I had concocted in my mind. Jen dropped her sister and me off while she parked the car, and we strolled right into Stil where we were kindly greeted. I quickly filled out a first timer form and then was told my class would be complimentary. What a great surprise on our last day of yoga! Sometimes studios do not disclose that they offer a free class to first timers, but the women at the front desk was enthusiastic about informing me of my free class. I was immediately hooked on the energy at Stil.

The studio is beautiful. Hidden behind a gorgeous oversized barn door, I honestly felt like I was doing yoga a quiet resort in Vermont versus the middle of Legacy Place. The class was perfect. It wasn’t too intense, yet it still presented me with challenges. The music softly playing in the background added immensely to my experience, yet it didn’t distract me from reflecting on the 12 day journey I had completed. At the end of class I noticed something that had not happened in any other class. I had no idea how long this class was, nor had I thought about time once during the whole class. Previously I had gone into each class fully aware of whether it was 60, 75, or 90 minutes. If there was a clock in the room I glanced at it every 30 minutes or so, and throughout the sequence I was able to estimate how much time I thought was left.  During this class time was not a factor in my mind at all. Even after class I didn’t look at my phone to see what time it was. My only indication of time came when I started to get hungry (I assumed it must be around 1:30 when I normally eat lunch). Anyways, I am not sure if it was the studio, the teacher, the class, or the fact that it was the last day, but this class came at the perfect time.

Moral of today’s class: Timing (or unawareness of) is everything. Sometimes it is important to be aware of time, sometimes it is important to not be.

-A

“You cannot afford to wait for perfect conditions. Goal setting is often a matter of balancing timing against available resources. Opportunities are easily lost while waiting for perfect conditions.”

-Gary Ryan Blair

Pick Your Battles

 

Day 11: Vinyasa flow w/Jene Rossi-9-10:30 Prana Power Yoga Newton

The only thing better than a good yoga class is a good yoga teacher. I truly, 100%, believe this. In my opinion, you can go to class at the greatest studio ever, with an amazing sequence, but if the teacher isn’t someone you feel like you can relate to or connect with, the class is ruined. You get hung up on their voice, their comments, their mannerisms, and it becomes impossible to fully engage yourself in the practice. Jene is a GREAT teacher. I have been practicing yoga since high school, and Jene was one of my first yoga teachers. I’ve never forgotten the positive energy she emits during class. When I saw she was subbing at Prana for the 9 a.m. class I knew I had to go. I didn’t care if I had to stay in on a Saturday night to make it to class feeling energized and refreshed, I just knew I had to be on my mat, at Prana, at 9 a.m., on Sunday morning.

When class started I was worried. Less than 24 hours prior I had been pruning up in Masaaki’s class, and here Jen and I were, again, sweating our brains out, for another 90 minutes. I didn’t know if it was dehydration, the freshly lacquered floors of the studio, or both, but 60 minutes into class I literally thought I was going to puke. It was a weird feeling though because I wasn’t yearning for class to end, or considering walking out, rather I was angry I felt this way. The sequence was the perfect mix of predictability and individuality, the heat was my ideal temperature, and the energy was spot on. I think I was just physically exhausted, and the feeling was manifesting itself today. Right when I thought I might have to spend the rest of the class in child’s pose, Jene stopped class to ask us if we wanted to go to the wall. “YES!” was my response. Often times I get frustrated when a class is paused to practice head stand or handstand at the wall. It can feel abrupt, especially if you are super into the flow and have a good vibe going. This pause fit in perfectly, and I think everyone was craving a few minutes to play around with some fun poses that are not regularly worked into every class.

At the end of the class, Jene spoke about being non-reactive. Her example was something so insignificant; the action of wiping a bead of sweat from our eyes as we lay in Shavasana instead of letting it drip down our faces.  This got me thinking. We tend to be a reactive culture. No matter what the situation, we do something about everything. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is definitely a trait that can be exhausting. Before Jene started talking about letting a bead of sweat just drip, I had been reaching for my towel to wipe the sweat from my face. My own natural reactivity was disruptive to my own calm. Why was I unable to just drift into Shavasana without wiping this sweat from my face? It’s not like these beads of sweat were causing me any sort of pain or discomfort. There are so many day-to-day instances where I could save tremendous amounts of energy by choosing not to react. It is tiring to fight every fight. It is so much more practical for us to pick our battles and only exert energy reacting to things worthy of a reaction.

Moral of today’s class:

1. Come to Boston and go to one of Jene’s classes!!

2. If you pick your battles you will have so much more energy for the important things 🙂

-A

“Choose your battles wisely. After all, life isn’t measured by how many times you stood up to fight.It’s not winning battles that makes you happy, but it’s how many times you turned away and chose to look into a better direction. Life is too short to spend it on warring. Fight only the most, most, most important ones, let the rest go.”

-C. Joybell C

Stuck?

Day 10: Power flow w/Masaaki- 4:30-6- HYP Wellesley

Today, for the first time during the 12 days, Jen and I finally got to a class together. Jen went to Masaaki’s class last Saturday and I couldn’t make it, but the timing of it happened to work out for both of us today. I knew the class was going to be difficult, and was prepared for the worst. When the class began, it seemed ok. I wasn’t pouring sweat right away, and I was getting really into the flow. Fast forward 45 minutes…I was breathing heavily, sweating so much I literally started to prune, and I was definitely having a hard time keeping up with the sequence. Luckily, as Jen stated in one of her previous posts, Masaaki demands proper breath. His ability to promote and enable correct, consistent breathing saved me during this class. When I was starting to feel a little dizzy I just breathed deeper and stronger. I didn’t focus so much on making sure I was perfecting the pose I was in, rather I focused on how my body was feeling, and how I could use my breath to enhance the experience of each pose.

During class Masaaki mentioned the idea of being stuck. He was referring to how sometimes we get stuck doing a pose a certain way because that is how we learned it, or that is how we feel comfortable doing it. I started thinking about how this translates to our own lives. I am 100% a culprit of this. I like the idea of comfort, and often times veer away from change. I am not saying we all need to quit our jobs, leave our friends and family, and travel around the world like Julia Roberts in Eat, Pray, Love (although I do love this movie), but once in awhile I think it is refreshing and realistic to truly think about if we are “stuck.” Would it be possible to drift away from what is normal and expected? Pulling ourselves out of whatever we are stuck in can be invigorating and empowering, even if its just changing the way we come into eagle or side angle.

Moral of today’s class: Try to become “unstuck” every so often.

-A

Being stuck is a position few of us like. We want something new but cannot let go of the old-old ideas, beliefs, habits, even thoughts. We are out of contact with our genius. Sometimes we know we are stuck; sometimes we don’t. In both cases we have to DO something.

                         -Rush Limbaugh

ask and you shall receive

Day 9 – 9:30 – 10:45 a.m. Vinyasa Flow – Stil Studio – with Allison

So after missing yoga yesterday, I woke determined to go today.  It’s amazing how quickly the roadblocks present themselves, but I was steely.  Nothing was getting in my way today.  Nothing.  Working hard to get things done and still get to class I became aware that I was running late!  NO!  I hadn’t even eaten breakfast, and this might normally stop me.  I might decide that this was unacceptable and stay home and eat something healthy and move on.  Today I would not.  I grabbed a power bar and raced out the door, but the weather was pretty bad.  It was windy and raining pretty hard.  The roads were a mess and I had to get on the highway to get to the studio.  I kept pushing.  Within ten minutes or so I realized that I would in fact be a few minutes late.  Something I try not to do.  I don’t appreciate being distracted when I’ve made the effort to get to my mat early, and I try not to do this to others, truly.  But today, I asked for it.  I called the studio and asked for permission to be a few minutes late, the weather was bad and driving was dangerous, parking would be tricky.  The Studio granted my wish and I made my way through a very challenging practice today with Allison.  The music was beautiful and my practice felt almost ballet like today, so full of grace.

The holiday season puts a tremendous amount of stress on our bodies and sometimes we need to just ask for permission.  Permission to be late.  Permission to skip a meeting.  Permission to skip a holiday party.  Permission to go to yoga.  You will not regret it.

-J

“live as if you were to die tomorrow”   -Mahatma Gandhi

Balance

Day 8: Hip Hop Yoga w/Goldie- 7:30-9 p.m.- Back Bay Yoga

Today I was totally off balance, both in yoga and in general. I was having trouble deciding between work, friends, Christmas events, and yoga. I have found that during the holidays it is hard to find a good balance with all of our commitments, and sometimes we are forced to choose. Jen chose to help a friend tonight instead of attending yoga, and I chose to go to yoga and forego commitments I had with friends. For me, tonight, this is what I wanted to do, and sometimes we just have to do things for ourselves, even if it makes us feel guilty.

When I got to class I was expecting a certain sequence and a certain playlist and was met with something completely different. This was ok. The playlist was still awesome; the sequence was still awesome. Like I said though, I was struggling with my balance. I was wobbly during half moon, I kept falling forward in crow, and standing split was nearly impossible. I guess feeling off balanced in my life was carrying over to my yoga practice as well. At the end of class Goldie let us have a few minutes to have fun with handstands and headstands. My tripod headstand method consists of resting on my head, hands on either side of my face. Then I lift my knees onto my bent elbows, pull my legs into my chest, and slowly raise them both up simultaneously into the air. My method to come down is the same thing, just reversed. When I was coming down from headstand, and both knees where on my elbows, without thinking I lifted my head up. I was in crow. I was totally balanced.  I wasn’t struggling at all. I felt like I could have stayed there for hours. I wasn’t sure what to make of this except for the fact that, things that are difficult at first usually become easier when we experience them again. I asked Jen’s ten-year old son Matthew his opinion on why this pose was easier for me the second time around. His answer: “maybe you just got the hang of it.” I think that’s a pretty good explanation.

Moral of today’s class: Sometime’s you just have to get the hang out of something before it becomes possible.

-A

(Thank you Matthew for your help!)

“Spectacular achievement is always preceded by unspectacular preparation.”

– Robert H. Schuller

Regret

Day 7: Black Light Yoga w/Goldie- 7:30- 9p.m.- Back Bay Yoga

Tonight I was torn. I went to work and definitely didn’t feel 100%, but was not bedridden like I had been the past two days. When I even mentioned the idea of going to yoga to my roommate, she immediately freaked out saying what a stupid decision it would be to go, and how it was rude to spread my germs during the holidays. I assured her that the doctor promised me that once my fever was gone I was no longer contagious. If I could still spread my germs there was no way I would have been at work or yoga. After a long internal debate, I walked to CVS, bought myself two vitamin waters and a water, and headed to yoga. I had signed up for black light yoga, a class I had never tried, but had been dying to experience. The class was in the different room then normal, and I was forced to deviate from my regular hip hop yoga routine. Once settled on my mat, I couldn’t wait for class to start. Let me say, this class was…AMAZING. Honestly, explaining it won’t do it any justice, you just have to go. The only way I can sort of think to describe it is, doing yoga, at a concert, in the summer, under the stars. In Goldie’s words the style of yoga was,  “sexy…slower yoga with a flow…transient music.” I wouldn’t call the music hip hop, I wouldn’t call it dubstep, I wouldn’t call it electronic. In Goldie’s words again, it was just “POWERFUL STUFF”.

When the class ended I took a second to think about how I felt. I felt great. Sure, I still felt sick and tired, but I felt like I had done so much good to my body in that 90 minutes. I twisted, I stretched, I did tons of hip openers and inversions. It was just what I needed. The one thing I didn’t feel was regret. This got me thinking, I can never think of time when I have done something in terms of exercise or yoga where I have felt regret. I often times question whether I want to go on a run, go to the gym, go to yoga, but the only time I feel regret is when I choose NOT to do these things. Had I not attended class tonight I know I would have felt regret.

As I stated in an earlier post, I have been having trouble lately fully relaxing in Shavasana. Instead of using these few minutes to fully relax, I’ve been using these few minutes of silence to make lists, think of what I have to do next, etc. I wanted to share a technique that Goldie has been using during Shavasana in her classes over the past few weeks that has helped me overcome this. Picture a circle and divide it in half horizontally. Now pick a color for the top half and a color for the bottom half. With your inhale trace the top half of the circle in your mind with the first color, and with your exhale trace the bottom half of circle with the other color. Continue doing this throughout Shavasana. Eventually your inhale will with match your exhale and you may not even have to picture the circle anymore.

Moral of today’s class: Sometimes regret can be worse than any other feeling you may have.

-A

 “Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable”

Sydney J. Harris

take what you need

Day 5 – Back Bay Yoga – 10:30-12:00 p.m.Vinyasa Flow with sarah sturges

I dedicated today’s practice to my partner in crime Ali, who is officially home with the flu, practicing STILLNESS and watching Dexter like a fiend.

Today I returned to the very place I fell in love with yoga.  Back Bay Yoga and the 2nd floor,  Vinyasa flow with Sarah Sturges and her all too inspirational playlists.  I drove my car into the city leery of finding a parking meter, which is actually a sick sport I kind of enjoy.  My heart almost stopped when I realized that there was a parking spot, literally directly in front of the studio! I’m talking height of the christmas season, 10 a.m. in the Back Bay (Ali – gosh I wish you had been with me to experience this)!  On my mat in the far corner of studio, with the familiar smell of pancakes pulling on my psyche (am I the only person smelling this?) I felt like I was home.

The class today was a perfect combination of meditative offerings, flow, challanging poses, unique combinations and transitions and a lengthy restorative Shavasana, where I ironically found myself restless.  Most of the classes I take I end up yearning for more and the one time I find myself with the gift of a long Shavasana and I’m trying to wiggle out of it early.  Why is it we always want what we can’t have?

Throughout the class today, Sarah reminded us to listen to our inner voices, to know when we need to pull back, to “take what we need” from a pose.  I think that this skill if it can be mastered in life, is invaluable.  Sometimes, especially during the holidays, we push ourselves too hard, when we might benefit so much more from less.

-J