We are delighted to share Emily Tsay’s final blog post finishing her yoga teacher training at Equinox. Emily is one of our 2011 Grace of Giving of Scholarship recipients. We are honored to be a part of and follow her journey through this life-changing process.
Thank you for sharing your “wisdoms” with us, Emily. Namaste.
Congratulations to Sylvia Baedorf Kassis, our final 2011 Grace of Giving Scholarship recipient. Stay tuned as Sylvia shares her training experience with us this Fall.
To learn more about the Zobha Grace of Giving Scholarship, click here.
You are never too young or too old to gain the physical and mental benefits of yoga. Yoga is all about the union occurring between the mind, body and spirit and honoring the grace within you. With that said, you’re not going to feel very healthy if you accidentally injure yourself when practicing it. To help you in doing yoga the right way follow, Zobha Circle of Grace Member and amazing yoga teacher, Mercedes Ngoh’s advice.
As for my experience with injury and alignment in yoga class, I can share with you something I learned that really changed my teaching as well as my own practice and that was first and foremost to work with your own body’s alignment rather than trying to fit your body into a “universal” alignment. The fact that there is no “universal” skeleton makes “universal” alignment an impossible task and a belief that can lead to injury and unnecessary frustration. Not listening to the maximum edge of resistance of one’s body but rather forcing oneself into a picture perfect image of a pose can not only lead to injury but to a practice void of self-awareness. This lends to the old adage of “use the pose to serve your body not your body to serve the pose”.
2. Don’t try to fit in
A second common thing I often notice that can lead, not only to injury, but to a disconnection from one’s practice is to slip into what I refer to my students as “Watchasana” – the habit of constantly “watching” others and comparing oneself. It is so important to get out of the practice of “watching” to see if a fellow student is doing a pose “better” or looks different and then trying to make one’s own body do what the person next to them is doing so as to not be outdone. This is a sure recipe to eventual injury as everyone’s body “resonates” in the postures differently. Instead, to avoid injury, one needs to keep the focus on their own mat and stay connected and aware of their own practice and keep constantly aware of what their body is telling them.
3. Practice in the now.
A third common mistake I notice is that some people have a tendency to do “yesterday’s practice” rather than practice in the now. In other words, there is a tendency to feel like one has to constantly do better than what they did yesterday (ie: harder poses, deeper backbends, deeper twisting, longer balancing etc) as though if this is not achieved then somehow it is a statement on their yoga practice as a whole. I constantly tell my students that every time they get to the mat it has to be fresh, and they have to check in with themselves and honor the state that they are in today. Not just physical but emotional and mental state. Then once they’ve ascertained where they are, they need to then tailor that day’s practice to match them in their present state. This then allows yoga the opportunity to become a real tool to heal, strengthen, purify and support them, rather than just be a task on their to-do list or daily exercise. If one stays true to practicing in the now rather than just trying to do better than “yesterday’s practice” they can avoid injuring themselves.
Mercedes Ngoh, has been living yoga for over a decade. She is a trained dancer, gymnast and athlete. As her practice deepened, Mercedes took the natural progression into teaching. To learn more about Mercedes, we invite you to visit her website here.
Zobha is excited about launching a Yoga Expert Corner where you can ask questions on different topics, and we’ll connect you with the right experts to answer them. Since Mother’s Day is around the corner, we are kicking it off with blogging about yoga fertility and pregnancy.
First, meet our two amazing yoga experts, Mercedes Ngoh and Jane Austin, who specialize in fertility and pregnancy yoga.
Then submit your questions on the Zobha Facebook Page, Twitter (mention @zobha) and Zobha Blog by April 15, 2011. We’ll have our experts answer them in May.
Our first expert is Mercedes Ngoh. She has been living yoga for over a decade. Having studied with various inspirational teachers, she is passionate about sharing what she has learned. “I view yoga as a lifelong, never ending study. For me it is a living science, a practice and an art form”, says Mercedes. Mercedes created Fertility Flow Yoga™, flowing fertility Vinyasa practice that has been specifically designed to focus on postures that strengthen and unblock the various muscles, organs and pathways that support the reproductive system. Mercedes will by answering your questions about increasing a women’s chance of becoming pregnant with yoga.
Our second expert is Jane Austin, who is passionate about yoga and the transformative power of motherhood. She specializes in teaching prenatal and postnatal yoga. For two decades she has worked with mamas, not only as a yoga teacher but also as a midwife, doula and childbirth educator. She has developed a Prenatal/Postnatal Teacher Training for yoga teachers as well as birth professionals in order to make yoga accessible to women in many different settings. Jane will be answering your questions about yoga and pregnancy.
We look forward to helping you with your questions!
In the second part of Yoga Tip segment, Circle of Grace Member, Kino MacGregor, teaches the best techniques on how to transition from Kurmasana (a Tortoise Pose) to Supta Kurmasana (Sleeping Tortoise). We find both poses challenging but Kino makes it look so easy. What is your most challenging pose?
Kino is a co-founder of Miami Life Center, where she teaches daily classes, workshops and intensives together in addition to maintaining an international traveling and teaching schedule. Kino founded Miami Life Center to build a community around yoga, holistic health and consciousness. For Kino’s schedule click here.
In the first part of Yoga Tip segment, Circle of Grace Member, Kino MacGregor, teaches best techniques to transition between Chaturanga, Upward Facing Dog, and Downward Facing Dog. What are the best techniques for your favorite poses?
Kino is a co-founder of Miami Life Center, where she teaches daily classes, workshops and intensives together in addition to maintaining an international traveling and teaching schedule. Kino founded Miami Life Center to build a community around yoga, holistic health and consciousness. For Kino’s schedule click here.
In the second part of “Yoga Expert Tips”, Jill Miller shares her best tips for advanced yoga practitioners. What would you add to this list?
Tips for Advanced:
1. Improve your balance: do your entire practice while blindfolded. This will light up the vestibular system (the balance sensors in your inner ear) and make you even stronger from inside out.
2. Increase the length of your Savasanas by one minute daily until you are up to 20 minutes. Long restful Savasanas WITHOUT FALLING ASLEEP are sometimes the most challenging thing for any yogi.
3. Bump it up a notch: take an immersion, teacher training, or go on a retreat and deepen your knowledge of the practice!
To see Jill’s beginner and intermediate tips, click here.
For more fitness and yoga tips and Jill’s class schedule, click here.
Here’s another look at Kino MacGregor, one of our Circle of Grace members, who shares a demonstration on Ashtanga Yoga and how to move through several difficult poses.
Kino MacGregor is dedicated to carrying the torch of Ashtanga yoga throughout the world and sharing the amazing tradition of Ashtanga yoga with everyone who is inspired to practice. Kino will be traveling around the world (literally) this Fall including Italy, China, and Japan. To learn more about Kino and where you can find her, go to kinoyoga.com.
Posted by Shannon Paige Schneider (Circle of Grace member)
Simple advice to avoid shoulder injuries in Vinyasa yoga!
When LOWERING from plank to the earth or chaturanga dandhasana, keep the shoulder blades on the back and the collar bones wide and the back of the neck as long as the front of the throat. In fact, consider dropping the knees and gaining authentic strength before trying to power through a bunch of full on repetitions just on the other side of empowered alignment. When the caps of the shoulders collapse forward, one is not only more prone for shoulder tweaks and injury, but also, strength remains elusive.
Shannon Paige Schneider is an author, sacred activist, inspired life coach, and dedicated teacher of Shiva Rea’s Prana Flow Vinyasa Yoga. She interweaves her students’ unique purpose driven inspiration into the divine play of body and breath to unlock the secret wisdom held within the heart. Shannon is the founder and yoga director of om time yoga centers and Anjali Restorative Yoga. To learn more about Shannon and where she will be teaching next, go to her blog.
Over the next week, we’re going to share yoga tips from our Circle of Grace members. Keep yourself in check with the right alignment and instruction.
Kino MacGregor, of Miami Life Center, shares this YouTube video on how to jump back in Padmasana. Not only does she give you a step-by-step demonstration, but she looks good wearing her Zobha outfit too!
Kino MacGregor is dedicated to carrying the torch of Ashtanga yoga throughout the world and sharing the amazing tradition of Ashtanga yoga with everyone who is inspired to practice. Kino will be traveling around the world (literally) this Fall including Italy, China, and Japan just in the month of September. To learn more about Kino and where you can find her, go to kinoyoga.com.
