I’m the Epitome of “First World Problems”

*In no way am I joking or being light about third world problems. Yes, those are still are big issue which will remain a concern.*

With that disclaimer out of the way… you may have heard the phrase “first world problems” lately…

I don’t like to use new age slang and I’m not into twitter and all those hash tag phrases that are bothersome captions for facebook photos.

But “first world problems” is a useful term for me.

One time I was telling a fellow yoga teacher (a much older wiser man) that I wanted to get some acupuncture and he asked why. I said for stress and anxiety. He chuckled and just looked at me and said “how are you stressed..?!”

Yeah, I get it. I’m this girl who has the world at her fingertips. I can travel the world, I can do yoga all day, people help me out with transport, housing, planning, and I’m never far from a beach.

..And I’m stressed out?

Somebody slap this girl upside the head.

So, what's my "problem?": where to go next, when to go, with who, how long, which yoga, which flight, which dinner salad!!?

First world problems right?!

The problem with having a head clear of concerns for spouse, kids, pets, finances, and obligations, the problem with having the world at my fingertips……?

THE WORLD IS HUGE!

Abundant opportunity is stressful. Which awesome thing should I do next? There, I said it. That is my first world problem.

Yoga & Nature - Retreats!

Do you want to join a group of like minded people for yoga, hiking, climbing, biking, and learning in one of the most beautiful and breathtaking places in the world- Yosemite National Park?

Stay tuned, "like" Andy Pandy on Facebook for updates on a potential retreat in the future!

Practicing Yoga for My Health Instead of My Ego: Tony Sanchez Seminar

Tiger scorpion practice

Five months ago, I read the book Hellbent by Benjamin Lorr. In the book, Ben fully immerses himself in the world of a Bikram Yoga student, competitor, teacher, and refugee. Around that same time I had been examining the yoga and the man closely myself and had lots of questions; the book came with perfect timing into my life, providing lots of answers and direction.

After Ben goes to Bikram’s teacher training, he goes to Mexico to study with Tony Sanchez, an ex-partner/friend of Bikram who also studied the same asana (posture) lineage with the same guru, Vishnu Ghosh. I had recently heard about Tony and knew a couple people branching out from the Bikram bubble to study with his videos or go to his trainings. The book gave me the information I needed to sign myself up for a seminar with Tony to study the lineage where my practice originated.

demonstrations

Some background... To make a long story short, Tony was running Bikram’s school in San Francisco while Bikram taught in Beverly Hills. Over time, Bikram changed his teaching methods and classroom setting, lost his personal practice, and fell victim to fame, and soon Bikram and his senior teachers cut off Tony. Tony faithfully practiced and taught the yoga he learned from Ghosh. However, Bikram’s approach to the yoga is what caught on to the masses.

Meanwhile, Tony continued to teach in San Francisco and also developed a program to have schools teach yoga to the children. He was successful in this and, instead of letting the idea of having a following go to his head or his wallet, he and his wife retreated to Mexico and went off the grid for a while. 

Then, seemingly just in time *ahem*, Tony began offering teacher trainings and seminars. In the beginning, only a few ex-Bikram teachers and studio owners knew about Tony and were visiting him regularly. Hellbent is the reason for about half of the people signed up for Tony’s current seminar and word of mouth by those individuals is taking care of the rest. His next teacher training is full and has a waiting list just as long.

The 84 posture advanced seminar was one week long, held where Tony lives in San Jose del Cabo in Baja Mexico. There were 16 of us, half of whom had spent the previous two weeks with Tony in his teacher training. Tony’s goal in this seminar was to have us focus on our personal practice only, so that we could think for ourselves as teachers. (The teacher training was a much different structure, I did not attend that). The small group setting was ideal.

balancing stick practice

For six days we practiced the 84 postures together and examined them individually, sometimes running through most of the sequence three times a day. Sometimes, while focusing on a posture individually, we took savasana after each one! In sun salutations we held each step for several seconds. Our afternoon consisted of a three and a half hour class of the whole series, yet no one was crawling on the floor! The room had no mirrors and was about 75 degrees. We learned to unlock hyper-extended knees, not to stretch our shoulder blade scapula out of our body, and that pulling is sometimes not the object of stretching. Sometimes Tony threw some different postures in or took some out. I felt like my yoga world was being turned upside down!

Assisting wheel pose

 Tony’s approach to practicing Hatha yoga is to use the least amount of exertion to achieve maximum results in a posture. In other words, not worrying about elbow, fingers, and stomach when the goal of the posture is to bend your spine. In backbending, Tony’s words are “don’t push, just fall.” The advice he gave on the postures made several more of them accessible to me.

"Don't push, just fall."

I was worried that I wouldn’t bend well without the heat but we took our time in postures. I went just as deep as I always do, without using force, and experienced no soreness! I felt strong in the classes and felt that the flexibility I was using was very sustainable.

This seminar was a great way to expand my thinking. Tony and the other Bikram method teachers and students were an inspiring group to be a part of. I learned so much to apply to my practice, which will surely influence my teaching. I am in no way abandoning the dialogue, 26 postures, and 105 degree room- just for the record!- but I do highly recommend an intensive seminar with Tony in order to expand your thinking and your practice. Feel free to contact me if you have a question!

You've seen his poster in all the studios!

5 Things I Learned from Teaching Yoga Besides "Yoga"

Since Bikram Yoga is the same 26 postures every class, and I practiced about six days a week for a little over a year before I arrived at Teacher Training, I assumed pssssh I know these postures soo well! I therefore assumed that teaching them would be easy. I would naturally be a knowledgeable, confident, and loving yoga teacher...


Then why did I find myself a few months into my new career getting asked questions I had no idea the answers to, feel like I wanted to cry when people looked sad while practicing, and feel frustration towards people who appeared not to be listening to my instructions?

Through teaching hundreds of classes to hundreds of bodies and abilities, traveling to studios and seminars, and researching and discussing the postures, my knowledge of the postures certainly deepened to a new level.

Meanwhile, I was learning so much more than physical postures. Here are the main things, of which I hold just as important to teaching as the knowledge about yoga postures.

1. Kindness. Realizing all the different kinds of people in this world, and how many of them are suffering, was sad and overwhelming at first. It is my purpose to share this yoga with them and I found how to recognize the good in each person, regardless of past judgements or of their behavior.


2. Sympathy. Before, I only knew the postures for one body, mine, but you can't teach to your own body. I realized that certain instructions that once helped me may be ineffective to the class. Having never experienced injury myself, it was difficult to understand why a student would not take my instruction. When my dad's arthritis prevented him from doing several postures fully, I understood that students have so many things going on in their body and that I needed to recognize that, not resent it.

3. Tolerance - There are certain aspects of yoga that students aren't ready to address. I learned not to let students' bad habits steal my peace as a teacher or steal my energy from the rest of the class. Taking a moment to think back to my early practice, I suddenly remembered that I also did some wacky stuff in class that I was not yet ready to detach from. I realized that acting like a drill sergeant was not the environment I wanted to create. The fact that we are all here trying yoga is all that matters.

4. Gratitude. I am thankful for my practice and I am thankful for yours. No. Matter. What.  Even if a student is difficult to "tolerate," no, especially when they are, the bottom line is, I'm glad you're here, I'll see you tomorrow.

5. EGO. Who knew that even with a history of low self-confidence I could have such a big ego? The way that students practice is not always about the teacher. So, why would I take personal offense? I have no idea what their day was like, what is happening at home, and what is going on in their body and in their mind. Taking offense or feeling ignored as a teacher is the ego responding; their behavior may have nothing to do with me. Teaching is a humbling experience. Sometimes I can recognize the presence of my ego but not always. Knowing this, I try to surround myself with more experienced teachers, to remind myself that I don't know all the answers.





When I say that this is what I learned besides yoga, I now realize that this is yoga. Yes, those who study yoga know that is not only asanas or physical practice. But I had no idea I would explore the rest by means of teaching. I practice these five things inside the yoga room but more importantly, outside the room as well.

Many of us try yoga to free our bodies from discomfort, and for health and fitness, but find that we learn to free our minds and open our hearts.

3 Beginner Steps to Eating Healthy

1. Learning. First is educating yourself on why you are going to eat healthy. Good places to start are online blogs- they have lots of short articles so you can learn a little something with each quick read. If you're like me, books are overwhelming since there is so much information at once. If you subscribe to some wellness blogs through Facebook, they post an article or two a day which is a great pace to start. My personal favorite is MindBodyGreen, but here are more of my other favorite resources.  Also, Netflix has several health and nutrition related documentaries which are fun and informative and may provide you with more information as to why you should choose certain foods, in addition to just the how and what, which are provided in short articles. Then start to discuss eating healthy with the healthiest people you   know, they're happy to help!

2. Buying. Next find out where your closest health food stores and farmers markets are. Make friends with the staff/sellers. Ask them about their produce. They love to chat. If you can make the experience of buying your ingredients fun, the  eating is fun too. I absolutely love farmers markets. Even if I'm going out of town or already have a fridge full of vegetables, I still go just to chat and sample!

3. Cooking. In terms of starting to cook healthy, especially for those who really feel like they hate cooking, the first necessity is creating the space, both in your house and in your life.  Clean and stock your kitchen; create counter and fridge space, gather spices, oils, seeds, and bulk products, knives, pots and pans. Being well equipped helps tremendously for beginners. This may be the main thing stopping you from liking to cook if you don't have all this at the moment. I've lived in lots of different places and I know it was my excuse for a long time. Now that I have what I need, recipes don't sound exhausting and I even improvise and experiment whenever possible.


*To help you get started cooking, start a Pinterest account! Finding healthy recipes is so easy there! Buy the vegetables that appeal to you, then search "kale" or "zucchini" in Pinterest for ideas on how to prepare them. There are so many vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, healthy bloggers out there and they know what they're doing! Personal bloggers are more reliable since they are actually in the kitchen experimenting as a hobby rather than big companies who post recipes online. I use the Pinterest app on my phone and pull up my recipe board from the grocery store and can easily buy what I need. 

Once you follow enough recipes, you'll be improvising and dancing around your kitchen in no time! You'll be inviting friends over for dinner and bringing in extra homemade hummus to work!

Beet Lovers' Dressing

I'm always on the lookout for unique salad dressings. This one is fun but you will have to play around with proportions. My first round was good, then I added Dijon and it got better, then I added tahini and it was excellent!

Ingredients:

juice of a big beet
balsamic vineagar
Dijon mustard
lemon juice
garlic
ginger
tahini
olive oil (optional)
fresh spices if you have em'

 

Pole Fitness

I know you have all wanted to try a pole dancing class at some point, just admit it! And why did you talk yourself out of it? You probably wanted a friend to go with you, couldn't get one to go, or maybe the times and locations haven't been right yet. I think for me those were all true... But I knew I'd get there eventually!

I finally had the perfect opportunity come up to try it and that is because one of my yoga students here in St. Augustine is a regular at Pole Fitness the way I am a regular at Bikram Yoga! Eva has a bubbly and kind personality and lives an inspiring healthy lifestyle (read her blog!), so if she always raved about this Pole Fitness, well I want in on that! She was really excited that I showed an interest and told me the class times, it was all so easy, how could I not go!?

I was a bit nervous to let loose, since I'm a bit shy. I think most women probably have the same mini fear of letting go, in public at least ;)  Let me just say that when you walk in there, you have no choice! The instructors are all so confident and sexy of course and they can bring you out of your shell instantly. As you do a few more lessons, you will not only shock yourself with confidence, but this will help you to perform better! The whole "strut" thing isn't part of a yoga practice so these Pole classes have helped me to feel more confident and freestyle a little bit.

The classes involve learning walks, dips, spins, climbs, etc. Work that upper body! And the core.. probably not using mine enough yet..! Expect some bruises on your shins and thighs and places you didn't think you'd get them! Best part is that you can dress fun too, high heels are awesome!

I also enjoy, as I mentioned before, that I like to be a beginner. In the first half of the first class, I get the thoughts like wow I suck at this, and I should give up now this isn't my thing, but then it is so funny how by the time class is finished I have already improved and can't wait to come back again! Oh, I remember when yoga felt like this! Actually some yoga classes still keep me humbled and inspired at the same time... I love to chase that feeling!

Watch this for a new respect for the strength and grace of pole dancing!