Yoga and Art

It’s Art Week in Fairmont, and Melissa May’s vibrant paintings are adorning the walls of our studio, which, it seems, makes a really great art gallery. When we hear the word “art,” most of us probably think of paintings like Melissa’s. Sure, musicians might think of music; actors might think of theatre; writers might think of prose or poetry, but most of us think of the visual arts.

So when I was asked to teach yoga Kids Art Day (and subsequently at Fairmont State’s Academy for the Arts), I was thrilled and immediately said yes. But then I started thinking. Why? Why was I asked to teach yoga at art programs for kids? What does yoga have to do with art? Sure, the practice of yoga can make you a better artist (or for that matter, a better teacher, a better mom, a better secretary, a better waitress, a better lawyer, a better whatever you already are), but how is yoga related to art?

And then it hit me. Art makes you take notice. Some art makes you take notice of social issues. Some art makes you take notice of the human condition. Some art simply makes you take notice of color or shape or sound. But all art makes you take notice of something. It takes you out of your day-to-day thoughts and causes you to focus on something new.

Yoga also makes you take notice. In yoga, you take notice of YOU. It takes you out of your day to day thoughts and causes you to focus on the newness in you. Each day we feel a little different; we look a little different; we breathe a little differently; new cells are being created and old cells are dying. In yoga, we pause to notice those changes, which, if we’re practicing regularly, are often for the better.

I find it deeply satisfying to think that as we practice, as we pause our day-to-day thoughts to take notice of our body, our breath, our mind, our emotions, we are creating art. We are art.

I’d love for you to share your thoughts on the subject. Please comment below.

See you in the studio!

The Art and Science of Relaxation

Last week I ended my blog with a quote from Wayne Dyer:

“You cannot always control what goes on outside. But you can always control what goes on inside.”

While trying to decide what to write about this week, I started going through my notebook from yoga teacher training. I came across a page that has this quote in all caps in the top left corner. The page is titled “Sympathetic vs. Parasympathetic Nervous System.” So brace yourself. We’re about to get all sciencey about that awesome feeling you get at the end of yoga class.

The parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) and sympathetic nervous system (SNS) work together to help you respond to and cope with daily life. Parasympathetic activation is the base state of the body, brain and mind. Think of it as the “rest and digest” state. But for most of us living in today’s world, daily life involves a myriad of stresses that activate the SNS. Loud noises, traffic, televised news, and internet ads all send us into the “fight or flight” response of the SNS. As a culture, we’re on SNS overload. Our cortisol levels are chronically high, and consequently, we end up with weakened or confused immune systems that can create a variety of health problems.

Yoga and meditation, on the other hand, activate the PNS. At the beginning of class, we “tune in” to our breath and cultivate a slow, steady, diaphragmatic breathing pattern that reduces blood pressures and slows the heart rate. At the end of class we lie in savasana and once again enter that “rest and digest” state. Often, we don’t want to leave that state. We reluctantly rise up from our mats looking sleepy-eyed and a bit disheveled yet completely at ease. That’s the parasympathetic baseline state!

With regular practice, we can learn to be more aware of and respond differently to stress-inducing thoughts or circumstances. We can maintain a slower, steadier diaphragmatic breath that redirects blood flow from the heart, lungs, and muscles to the digestive and reproductive organs as well as the endocrine and lymphatic system, allowing us to better extract nutrients from our food and more effectively eliminate toxins that can lead to health problems.

While we might not be able to make it to the yoga studio every day, we can do mini meditations any time of the day in order to activate the PNS. It doesn’t have to be complicated. All you have to do is pay attention to your breath for a minute or more. And in that way, as Wayne Dyer says, you can control what goes on inside.

But if you crave that blurry-eyed, blissed out, “yoga stoned” state that a really good savasana brings, and if you’re one of those people who wish you could just lie in savasana for an hour, then I invite you to come to the sound healing meditation that Kindred Vibes is doing this Saturday at 4 pm. They truly bring art to the science of relaxation. Sure, the science is still there at work, but the music of David’s crystal singing bowls and the resonance of Liz’s voice during the guided meditation (not to mention her gift for reiki) make the science seem insignificant. And it’s an Arts Week event! There’s no better time to give this form of meditation a try. All you have to do is lie there.

See you at the studio!

Spending Time in Our Bodies

I had the pleasure of spending a couple of hours with the lovely Paula Flint on Saturday afternoon. During that time, she told a brief story about a visit to a doctor. While trying to explain her sense that something wasn’t quite right, she told the doctor, “I spend a lot of time in my body.” As you can imagine, that statement was met with a look that suggested it was unnecessary. We are all in our bodies all of the time, aren’t we?

Not really. On the whole, we, as a society, “check out” of our bodies quite frequently. We arrive at work or at home with little or no recollection of our commute. We sit and stare at screens that take us elsewhere, sometimes for hours. Our minds are constantly traveling into the past or into the future. We are rarely in the moment or “in our bodies.”

Yoga class is the perfect opportunity to practice being in our bodies. Often teachers will give us prompts or cues to facilitate that practice. But depending on the class and the teacher, we are sometimes left to our own devices. Sometimes that is purposeful. As a teacher, I am often quiet during savasana or during long holds in poses. The reason for that is twofold: 1. I think we are talked at enough during our daily lives and I recognize that some of my students come to the studio to escape the chatter. 2. I want my students to develop their own tools for remaining mindful or “in their bodies.” I like to introduce mindfulness tools (the breath, body scans, guided meditations) and then let students practice them (or not) during my classes.

If you struggle with tuning into your body and remaining in the present moment, you’re not alone. Frank Jude Boccio, author of Mindfulness Yoga suggests three questions we can ask ourselves during our yoga practice to cultivate awareness:

1.       Am I bringing awareness to my breath?

2.       Where is sensation arising?

3.       Am I starting to create a mental formation by wondering when this pose will end?

I believe it was B.K.S. Iyenar who said, “The pose begins when you want to leave it.” By staying in a pose and investigating our physical, emotional, and mental reactions to it, we are spending time in our bodies. Yoga class then becomes a laboratory for becoming more mindful. On any given day, the traffic noise might be uncomfortably loud, you may feel bored or restless, your neighbor’s breathing might annoy you, your hamstrings might feel tight. Armed with mindfulness techniques such as the three questions above, we learn to observe ourselves and reframe these conditions so that they become less distracting or less irritating.

With more frequent practice, more time spent in our bodies, we can learn to use these techniques in our daily lives, outside of yoga class, so that can know our truth and feel less reactive, less distracted, less irritated or, conversely, and more importantly, more in tune with true selves. Because, as Wayne Dyer says, “You cannot always control what goes on outside. But you can always control what goes on inside.” But it does take practice.

See you in the studio!

The Power of Yin

Our class description for yin reads:

Yin Yoga is a quiet practice focused on flexibility. It involves holding and exploring poses for longer periods of time in order to target deeper connective tissue and calm the nervous system.

That’s a pretty superficial explanation of what can be a very deep, satisfying practice.

In our Western society, we’ve been programmed to think that exercise should be fast paced. It should make us sweat; it should make our hearts beat faster. “No pain, no gain,” right? It’s no wonder that Power Yoga is so popular in the United States. Using the Eastern concept of yin and yang, Power Yoga, or vinyasa, is a yang practice. But the concepts of yin and yang are relative terms that can be applied to almost anything:

Yin: calm, still, inner, dark, hidden, cold, winter, feminine

Yang: active, moving, outer, light, exposed, hot, summer, masculine

In relation to our physical bodies, muscle tissue is yang; connective tissue is yin. Most types of “exercise” affect our muscles, which are easily strengthened and can become very flexible when warm. Yin yoga affects our connective tissue, which takes much longer to become pliable and can become “shrink wrapped” as we age, leaving us less flexible and more prone to injury in our joints.

Both yin and yang practices are essential for achieving balance in our bodies, our minds, and our lives. As a society, we are pretty dialed in on yang: we value activity, productivity and multitasking, so keeping still, even in a very simple yoga pose (savasana, for example), for several minutes can be extremely challenging. So how do we approach a practice that asks us to be still in pose after pose after pose?

1. Let go of the “pose” mentality: On the surface, yin poses look a lot like poses you might see in any other yoga class, but in yin, they’ve been given new names. The purpose of that is to shift the focus from an alignment-based “Am I doing this right?” mentality to a state of observation that can allow us to detach from our ego and just be.
2. Focus on the breath to get past the “freak out” phase: Although yin yoga doesn’t utilize any special breathing technique, focusing on the breath can help us move past our initial urge to resist a pose and allow us enter a state of relaxation and receptivity.
3. Find your first edge: To create lasting flexibility in connective tissue, find your first “edge,” the first place you feel an interesting sensation. Stay there until the sensation subsides before allowing yourself to relax more deeply into the pose. In this way, you will avoid activating the “stretch reflex” that causes the body to contract.
4. Take your time moving out of a pose: After creating space between your joints, you will likely feel a bit fragile. Move slowly and be mindful of sensations that arise as the body returns to a more neutral position. Focus on those sensations until you transition to the next pose.

In addition to the physical benefits of the practice, yin can act as a “reset” button for the mind and the emotions. An hour of a relatively still and quiet practice that is so antithetical to our daily lives is a powerful tool for achieving balance and a sense of ease. Join us for yin practice at Main Street Yoga on Sundays at 6:00 pm. If you’d rather start with mix of yin and yang, we offer power/yin on Saturdays at 9:00 am.

Namaste

Private Yoga Classes

Why book a private yoga lesson?

STUDENTS BOOK PRIVATE LESSONS FOR A VARIETY OF INTENTIONS

With private yoga lessons, you get personalized instruction based on your health, body type, lifestyle and goals—on your time.

These are just a few reasons to book a private session:

• Receiving one-on-one attention in a private space
• Grasping the basics of yoga (3+ sessions recommended)
• Developing confidence to practice in group settings
• Learning to modify a practice while healing from injury
• Cultivating a therapeutic practice to manage or improve mobility or health issues like insomnia or low back pain
• Tailoring the practice to benefit a sport or profession outside of the studio, such as improving golf swing or complementing triathlon training
• Diving into postures, whether you need an overall “check up” to make sure you are practicing the fundamental poses using safe and correct alignment or you want special attention to master a challenging pose like headstand
• Establishing a studio practice that works with your schedule

Private lessons can be one-on-one, or you can share your session with several people with similar goals.

Email mainstreetyogafmt@gmail.com for more information.