smoothing the wobble

i've battled bouts of shyness since i was a child.  i was a creative, quiet, artistic bookworm, yet i was also athletic, and always part of a team atmosphere.  Mid-gradeschool, i started to cultivate a crazy self-consciousness that's taken me years to shake.  However, I always have been and continue to push myself into situations and towards goals that demand a more gregarious persona than my usual low-key self. I can gather up my resources, cheerlead my inner strength, psych myself up - which sometimes involves a sushi dinner, but most importantly, I take a deep breath and GO FOR IT. Last year, I filmed an episode of an HGTV show that I'm really proud of.

here's a horror story of mine from an earlier time. one of my first real jobs was working as a designer and public relations coordinator for a ski resort. my design skills and writing skills were solid, but my pr savvy was a bit sketchy. I was sent to a seminar with senior management folks from ski resorts across the US for a public relations crisis response prep session. The imaginary scenario was that a terrible accident had happened at your resort and there was a media frenzy unfolding. The whole thing was acted out with fake journalists and you were miked and videotaped and the pressure was escalating by the second. I was a wreck, totally self-conscious in front of a room filled with slick pr old-timers who had the perfect answers, and all I had was a racing heartbeat, ringing ears, and a mind suddenly erased of any knowledge.  Standing under hot lights, I managed to grasp a lame sentence from thin air, but I could barely speak!  My voice was thin, wobbly--that is not how I wanted to sound!  More importantly, that was not where i wanted to be, feeling deeply embarrassed and stupid, completely bombing. 

One of the seminar leaders had told me earlier, recognizing my struggles, to take a deep breath, but that day, that was beyond me.  I myself was in crisis mode.  Anyway, a few weeks later, the videotape of my crash+burn arrived in the mail, everyone was sent their rolls "to review and see what points you can improve on."  I had that tape in my possession, unopened- of course I couldn't bear to see my epic self consciousness- until it resurfaced a few years ago in a move. I took a deep breath. and threw it away.

Sometimes there will be a student in a yoga class, trying for dear life to hang onto a pose, clenching and wobbling like crazy. "don't forget to breathe" I say. Because deep breathing smooths the wobble.  But sometimes that takes time.  Especially if you're in crisis mode.

This one's for all my office peeps

As I'm recovering from a severely desk-bound graphic design position, I know how it feels to become one with an office chair, eyes burning from spending unblinking hours at the computer, crumbs in the keyboard because you worked right through lunch.  So, in honor of that icky feeling, here's wisdom I'm passing on from a fellow yogi.

Five actions at or near your computer to do to Feel better Now!

1. Smile. Turn up the corners of your mouth for 2 to 2o seconds.

2. Move. Choose one or two of these movements or design your own:

Lift your arms over your head

Dance in your chair

Stand up and do a yoga pose

Stretch in any way that feels good

Walk around your office or to another room.

3. Drink 8 ounces of the best tasting water you currently have access to.

4. Take 5 deep breaths of the freshest air available. Open a window or go outside and breathe deep.

5. Think of five things you are grateful for in this moment.

-Gary Halperin, creator of the "Feel Better Now Yoga" DVD and author of "Feel Better Now Meditation"

benefits of yoga

1. building strength and toning + weight loss 

lifting your body weight in poses builds and tones lean muscle.

2. decreasing stress

forward bends cool the brain. 

deep breathing sends oxygenated blood through your bloodstream, calming the mind. 

3. deep stretching

after a hectic day at work, on your feet or hunched over a desk, 

there's no better feeling than unlocking tight spots in your shoulders and hips with a yoga session.

4. energy boost

the dynamic combinations of flowing poses and restorative stillness I love to teach leave you feeling recharged and refreshed.  Ever notice how much easier it is to motivate yourself to go to yoga rather than the gym?  Instead of just slogging away on a treadmill, you're exercising your mind, body and spirit.

5. conquering life's challenges

the poses that you find difficult, with practice, will become second nature. through yoga, you can reconnect with your physical and mental potential and apply that to obstacles in every day life.

  you are powerful.

6. the yoga glow

you feel so good after yoga classes it shines through you.  

your energy is positive, your heart is open. 

karma is cultivated when you share your light and spread the love!

Rejuvenate!

Have you heard the buzz on Rejuvenate yet? It's in the Sun Trust Gardens Building downtown. The philosophy is enlightened and awesome: To offer a place where busy office workers or business travelers can unwind and rejuvenate from the work week.  De-stressing options include daily yoga classes in a serene room with inspiring views of downtown Atlanta (and where I teach - Tuesdays Power Flow Yoga, 12:15 to 1:15), massage, or space-age nap pods.  Check out the website for more information.

www.rejuvenatespas.com

Also, check out the scoop on Daily Candy

(photo courtesy of Rejuvenate)

where it all began

my first experiences with yoga...

as a very young child, maybe 3 years old, Lilias yoga came on the PBS station right after Sesame Street.  The longhaired lady in tights in front of a groovy 70s background, sadly meant the end of the puppet shows and naptime was coming.  My mom liked yoga, though, and I remember accompaning her to a class one time. I just watched and was scared by the women in leotards stretching in a neighbor's rec room.

later on, as a 6th grader, I had an eccentric teacher who was always dimming the overhead lights and delving into topics not a part of the standard public school ciriculuum, like reading us the entire Tarzan series, and deeply studying the Hawaiian islands, where she had an "adopted son", and of course, YOGA.  We did poses in the aisles, mainly tree, some warriors, and lots of eye exercises, which involved stretching your arms out wide and rolling your eyeballs back and forth to look at your thumbs.  This worried me, as I wore contacts and thought for sure they'd pop out.  Everybody dogged yoga but probably secretly liked it - and the highlight was when a boy split his pants wide open in forward bend, which was 6th-grade humor overload.

Fast forward to 1996, when I was living in New Hampshire desperately seeking diversions, and came across a Yoga Class at the YMCA.  I don't recall the teachers' name, but he was Kripalu trained and always wore white.  Class was held in a circle foundation in the preschool classroom - tiny chairs and tables were pushed aside and the walls were covered with construction paper masterpieces.  I think it was the second class where we held a shoulderstand for a reaaaaally long time, and then folded our legs over our heads in halasana/plough, and then sloooowly rolled out flat, when I felt a deep, awesome heat seep down my spine.  

It was luscious.  And I was hooked.  Now I think that was my Kundalini energy activating. Or else I had just been wicked tense for far too long.  

Anyway, I haven't had that blissful surge since, but I've had hundreds, maybe thousands, of fantastic yoga experiences, across the United States, from fabulous teachers, and have recently been passing on the light and teaching as well.