My good friend Paul Fowler (left in the photo) is owner of the Chicago School for Thai Massage. He is a wise man, a great healer and a good musician, to boot! He and Paul Weitz, his business partner and friend, studied in Thailand earlier this year and learned many wonderful things. The most important thing Paul F shared with me is the idea that when we heal others, we need to also be healed. So, I've been more open to letting the benefits of yoga effect me as I teach. This sounds simple and obvious, but it's actually tricky to do this! When I'm teaching, I'm in my head. I'm constantly scanning the room to see which students need physical help, help with breathing, or need a kind word or touch. I'm sequencing the class in an intelligent, safe way and have to keep my mind on that, as well. I'm also thinking about how I'm speaking - am I loud enough? Clear enough? Articulate enough? So, there are many things that go through my head as I teach. I'm better at being in the moment (see previous post!) and relaxing while teaching because of my growing experience as a teacher (five years and hundreds of classes, by now). I am more and more welcoming the prana (energy) of teaching and from the students into my heart. I, too, should be transformed as a teacher while I'm teaching. Many thanks, Paul F! (Everyone, make sure to get the best Thai massage ever from this guy!)
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Ugh, time management is the most important thing a yoga teacher can do to get "everything" done. If I'm not on top of my schedule, my insides feel like an old sneaker cemented into a wall top with broken glass. No calmness or stillness to attract cute little birds or anything else to land safely.
Sometimes I can feel more in the moment, even when I'm busy. I had a moment like that fifteen minutes ago, as I sit on my gorgeous back porch, typing furiously away on my laptop. A little green bug landed on the inside of my glasses. I took them off and blew as hard as I could to remove him, but he held fast. I blew again and saw his teeny wings flutter with my breathe. I stared at him as close as I could (without wearing my glasses, it was kind of hard!) and noticed his microscopic head with the littlest pair of antennae on them. He was vibrant green and beautiful. I'm so glad he landed on my glasses or else I wouldn't be able to enjoy Mother Nature at her finest. When I'm super busy (and when ain't I?), I love it when Mother Nature or a person interrupts me. I'm reminded of how nice it is to pay attention to who I'm talking to and to where I am, regardless of how important I think what I'm doing is. I can make myself sooo busy that the moments run into each other and then a day is gone without me noticing the zillions of wonderful things that zip by. I do try to embrace gratitude for all the moments of the day inside my heart and sometimes forget that being in the moment means being filled with joy. And we all deserve joy. We're made of it! Yoga nidra means yoga sleep and, woah - is this a powerful and effective practice. Pictured is my teacher Rod Stryker's version of this practice of deep relaxation. Yoga nidra is sleep with a sense of consciousness. I've certainly passed out and snored my way through yoga nidra practices, for sure, but this is best practiced with out falling asleep. 30 minutes of yoga nidra is like getting 2 hours of sleep, and, believe me, I use yoga nidra instead of napping often to not only deeply rest, but to work on my sankalpa, my resolution. So, how do you practice this magical relaxation practice and what's up with the resolution hub bub, you may wonder? Well, practicing is easy peasy - you lay on your back, hit the play button on your preferred media player and give your self permission to relax. I even bought an acupuncture-style pad to practice yoga nidra on to get some extra mojo going. By mojo, I mean prana - life force, chi, breathe, energy. You know...get your mojo rising! (I don't recommend using the bed of nails pad like I am unless you're used to doing yoga nidra often. You can relax so deeply that your body may feel uncomfortable on the pad, defeating the purpose of yoga nidra.) The sankalpa, the resolution, is a super important part of this practice. When you're in the process of deeply relaxing, you cultivate the feeling of gratitude and in this fertile soil, plant the seed of your sankalpa or focused intention. This is a positive goal towards your health and well being that you want to achieve in the next 6 months. For example, three years ago, my previous sankalpa was to attract 10 students to every yoga class. I was still anxious about teaching to as many people as I could so I would have better job security, more income, and feel like I was getting the yoga message really out there. The sankalpa eventually worked to where the classes where I had lower attendance (the 7AM gym classes) started to be populated by the coolest group of yogis around and there are often 10 or more students in these classes. Another great result was that by seeding my sankalpa while deeply relaxing, the anxiety I had around it started to fade. Sure, it's fun to have a full class but this is not as important to me. I'm now more focused on teaching a better quality class to any number of students. The sankalpa and yoga nidra worked for me in many great ways. Yoga nidra, yoga nidra, yoga nidra. Do this as often as you can, at least twice a week, to deeply relax, set and fulfill your sankulpa, and to replenish your vitality. If you have three minutes, can you please take this short SURVEY about a new yoga class I want to start in Chicago? many thanks, friends!
I've been teaching mula bandha, the root lock, in yoga classes this week. I'm teaching this because I want to encourage grounding during times of stress. It's good to be able to root down (like the Beastie Boys song!) when emotions and life are unstable.
My grandmother passed away last Saturday and I chose not to go to her funeral. I feel sad for not seeing my extended family in this time of loss and celebration of her life, but I'm rooted in my decision not to go. I bonded with my halmonee (Korean for grandmother) last Christmas and it was really sweet being a part of her life. I feel fortunate to have known her. She escaped from North Korea before the Korean war with a family of children and elders. She survived five wars with compassion, kindness and unshakable faith in God. So, I ground myself as she lifts up. I root as she ascends. And I'm better able to reach up and out in my life by grounding myself, as well. Thanks for the wonderful inspiration, halmonee, and thanks for the great genes you gave me! I can't wait to see you again, soon. So, I'm done done done working with the Three MInute Egg yoga products, for now (duh duh DUH dramatic music heard here). We sold eggs at the NYC Yoga Journal Conference (see the last blog entry) and at the Midwest Yoga Conference in Illinois. I met some fabulous, fabulous people, like the good folks at Juil Shoes (WONDERFUL product), a guy who already has a yoga website class directory that I'm trying to build now (eek!) and other neat yoga freaks and lovelies. At the Midwest Yoga Conference, I finally got to study with Dr. Indu Arora. I've been interested in studying with her for years after reading her articles in Yoga Chicago and find her to be an authentic yogini who is the Real Deal. I took a mudra workshop with her and a beauty workshop, where she talked about the 8 types of beauty in the forms of Laksmhi, who is the utmost beauty incarnate. Of course, the emphasis is on the beauty of the inside, the type of confident spiritual beauty that keeps us young, vibrant and elegantly effortless. Who wouldn't want this kind of effervescent beauty emanating from their pores from the inside? I sure do and need to get puh-lenty of rest right now after weeks of yoga-market-mayhem and after hanging out with the Three Minute Eggman, Jason, who has been painfully sick with a cold. So, off I go right now (that's right, Mia, get OFF the computer) to make an herbal face mask with Dr. Arora's herbal powder mixed with organic milk, lay on my new Yoga Powermat with 600+ plastic spikes on it and do a yoga nidra deep relaxation with my teacher, Rod Stryker's recording. The ONLY way I can sustain and thrive with my busy lifestyle is to PRACTICE and take care of myself. Off I go. Lauren Toolin, Sue Neufeld, Katy Park in the background & I are ParaYogis, here at the NYC Yoga Journal Conference. NYC was a blast. A tiring and lovely blast. Working with the Three Minute Egg yoga prop was better and easier than ever. We had fantastic help this year with rock stars Sean, Katy and Josie. Our commanding officer, Jason, was in great spirits, despite his chest cold. I studied with my yoga teacher Rod Stryker and Lauren Toolin and Sue Nuefeld were assisting him. I was surrounded by wonderful yoga teachers, people who dedicate their lives to practicing and teaching authentic yoga. Wisdom, inspiration and joy emanate from these peoples' pores. They glow with vitality, warmth and authenticity. I don't know if I'd use those words to describe any ol' group of human beings or even yogis. ParaYoga people are special. This approach to yoga works. It really does. It changes people for the better and brings out the absolute best in them. NYC was all the more great because I spent time with this sangha, this community of yoga people whom I adore, respect and want to be around all the time. Bonus: we filmed a promo video for my teacher's book, The Four Desires! I can't wait to read this book and see the video that Lauren organized. I'm looking forward to working with commanding officer, Three Minute Egg Jason, this weekend at the Midwest Yoga Conference, but -straight up- it won't be as fun as NYC because my main sangha of ParaYoga peeps won't be there. Yes, it's all yoga, it's all love. But the special love was last weekend and I'm so happy to have tapped into that. The Yoga Journal Conference in NYC is upon us. I leave tonight for the Big Apple to visit family and work at the Three MInute Egg booth in the marketplace.
I'll for sure see my ParaYoga friends (woohoo!) and my teacher, Rod Stryker (WOOHOO!), but this will be a very loooong weekend. It's 10 hours of talking to people and demonstrating this clever yoga product. I love doing this job - it's my 5th time in three years working with Jason from Egg central - but, like any other trade show I've worked (over 40), people are CHALLENGING. People in general can be demanding and high maintenance. Often, yoga people are also demanding and high maintenance, but are more passive aggressive about it since we're yoga people who are trying our best to be "balanced". Ugh. I do my best to be direct, compassionate and friendly. I'm super high maintenance sometimes and when I realize it, try to reel myself in. Maybe these anxious, needy yoga people who are curious about the Egg are also about to ground themselves and calm down. We're all on the path, we're all journeying our way towards the best we can be. So, off I go to NYC to celebrate all of us on the path to enlightenment at this yoga conference, one foam Egg at a time. I think that if you're going to honor your mother, you should do it every day, not just on a hallmark holiday. And why does conventionally honoring your mother have to be a commercial event? Why spend money on your mom when she'd much rather prefer you honor her every day of your lives by honoring yourself, first.
At least I'd like to think that moms would want that over a pearl necklace or a plate of fancy food. The divine mother in all of us is Ma, according to yoga traditions. Ma is definitely the kind of mother that expects you to exalt yourself in order to honor Her. Truly, the only way to take care of someone else, especially your mother, is to take care of yourself, first. Ma needs each of us to do this in order for her to shine through. This divine light inside of all us, whose origin is Ma, can only shine though if we're doing the best we can to honor ourselves. I come from a Korean household where self sacrifice was encouraged...and this was destructive. I see this self sacrifice "for" someone else's benefit as deep fear to own yourself and be the best you can be in order for others to be the best that they can be. Sigh. This idea of nurturing an offspring or raising anything (pets, plants, etc) (etc?) is complicated. Where does serving yourself to serve others begin and end? Of course I have to mother my kitty and porch garden. But I make sure to meditate daily in order to keep my inner garden flourishing. Happy Mother's Day to me and you, every day. Ouch. Being honest can totally suck - it's uncomfortable, it can hurt other's feelings, it can seem easier to let unhealthy situations perpetuate rather than go through the pain of telling the truth. Let's call this last process the "truch", as in truth + ouch.
In the most awesome book, Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna is a warrior with big troubles. He's supposed to go to war and fight his cousins and uncles. He's so upset about this decision that he calls God to help him and down comes God in the form of Krishna. He asks how he can live his truth because he feels so terrible about killing his family. Krishna explains to Arjuna that he must fight this war because it's part of his dharma, his life's ultimate purpose that will serve himself and the world to it's highest causes. So, even war can be just, but only when this war fulfills dharma, the path to living in one's highest service. It's a fascinating concept to consider, and one that I believe in. I'm at the point of my life where I want to embrace everyone and everything that will help me fulfill my dharma, or, at the minimum, I want to do what's fun. When I'm exalted, I can celebrate people and life to their fullest. We can all live this way if we follow our dharma. I'm reprioritizing what's important to me and will make my decisions based on what feeeeels RIGHT. This may mean hurting other's feelings and I feel awful about causing that. But, like me, those people need to follow their dharma, too, and we're all responsible for our own emotions and actions. Embrace the "truch" when we need to and let's gre |
AuthorMia Park is a ParaYoga teacher in Chicago, IL, specializing in teaching Basic Yoga for Advanced Misfits, as well as teaching people how to cut through the junk to shine on. Archives
February 2012
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