What's a Yoga Body?

Roseanne over at It's All Yoga, Baby pointed out SadieNardini's new Facebook ad campaign, which reads:

Get a Summer Yoga Body
Lose weight and look younger with Yoga

Wait, what?

Read the story at It’s All Yoga, Baby. Make sure to note Sadie’s comment, too.

Last year I earned a Core Strength Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Certification with Sadie Nardini. I blogged about it then, and I still stand by everything I wrote. It was a great training, and Sadie has a lot to offer as a teacher and TO teachers. She has a ton of free instruction on YouTube that I refer to and recommend to students. I've admired her a lot for keeping it real even as she rises as a "celebriyogi."

And for that reason, it bugs me even more that her marketing is all about weight loss and "detoxing" (My most hated word! It means nothing!). According to her comment on IAYB, she didn’t have control over how her course was marketed, and she’s now working to get the ad changed.

As I said in my original post about CSVY, "...core strength is not limited to the physical core. It's not about having six-pack abs. It's about understanding the center of your being and developing the discipline to move and expand from the truest, most rooted part of yourself."

Even if that is still the underlying message of her teachings (and I believe that it probably is), it is being sold as something else. Weight loss. Getting skinny. Selling the idea that there something to be "fixed" about your body and that yoga is the way to fix it. My friend Marianne shared this article by Sharon Gannon, "Making Friends with Your Body" which does a better job at addressing this than I could.

Unfortunately, commercially speaking, there IS such a thing as a "yoga body." Pick up any issue of Yoga Journal. You will find at least five pictures of a skinny white girl in Eka Pada Rajakapotasana. It is probably even on the cover. A friend also pointed me to the Wanderlust Lineup. Hello more skinny white girls! It's the image that's being to sold to us everywhere else, why not yoga, too? I guess someone's got to fit in all those little expensive Lululemon pants.

This is something I am constantly trying to get my yoga students to understand: I do not care what you look like in a pose. Really. I am not impressed if you can touch your toes and I am not thinking badly of you if you can't. I want you to feel something. Release tension from somewhere. Energize something that is weak. Enjoy experiencing every moment in your body. Learn to understand your body’s signals, listen to your deepest inspirations, and then be bold enough to respond! It doesn’t matter what you look like when you show up for class, or how it looks while you’re doing all this investigating. That is why I offer dozens of modifications and alternatives in class. Everyone is different and should have the opportunity to move in the way that will work best for them. We will work it out together to get you comfortable so you can have the best experience possible. So as far as I’m concerned, your “yoga body” is the one that shows up for practice, on and off the mat.

For more wonderful insights on yoga for all bodies (including larger ones!), check out Curvy Yoga and Body Positive Yoga.

Rachel Brice's 8 Elements™ Phase 1: Initiation Passed

Rachel Brice & Me

I just got back from Rachel Brice's 8 Elements™ Phase I: Initiation training! In short, it was completely awesome. I have never worked so hard at bellydance or had so much fun doing it. It was the first time I've taken a test in bellydance, which was totally nervewracking, but I passed! I probably don't have to tell you that Rachel Brice's dancing is just on a whole other level than just about anyone I've ever seen, and on top of that, she is a generous and encouraging teacher. There were about forty of us training and everyone brought their A-game. I met lots of very focused, experienced, and fun dancers, that I hope I will be seeing again soon.

This training was exactly what I was looking for. I got an overview of the fundamentals, not just of tribal fusion bellydance, but dance and performance in general. By focusing intently on fundamentals, I gained new insights into my own strengths and weaknesses. I found new inspiration. I got excited about seeing where other people might take their dancing, because I was reminded that everyone is uniquely inspired and there is so much diversity of talent and passion that people have to offer. Being primarily an ATS® dancer, obviously I see the value in collaboration, and still this training totally rejuvenated my attitude about it!

I love that Rachel Brice has created a very structured approach to exploring and studying the fundamentals of dance, and has also left a great deal of freedom to apply the principles to whatever you’re inspired by. I can’t recommend 8 Elements™ enough! Do it if you have the opportunity! I hope to go back next year for Phase II: Cultivation!

Art of the Belly and Dance Thoughts

Last weekend I performed with the MD/DC/VA ATS supergroup, the Transcendence Tribal Collective at Art of the Belly. Here it is!

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/39221962 w=549&h=412]

I took a workshop with Asharah about the Salimpour Legacy in tribal bellydance, and then I took a private lesson with her where she gave me a crash course in the Jamila Salimpour format. I love learning. I'm all about finding out the WHY behind everything. Why do we style things with a certain posture or tempo? There's a history there and it's worth looking into, especially if you have the intention to change it up. There's a lot of feel-good bellydance mythology about how dance was passed on mother to daughter, and passed along through generations. I've always thought that sounded corny, but now I am realizing that actually that kind of tradition is still alive today. My first bellydance teachers were trained by Piper, whose mother, Rhea, was a dancer in Jamila Salimpour's troupe, Bal Anat. My mentor, Carolena Nericcio, was a student of Masha Archer, who was a student of Jamila Salimpour. We're still close to the source of some bellydance history, and I think we should take advantage of that as we are at an interesting time in the growth of tribal bellydance.

That's why I am working my buns off trying to learn as much as I can. It is incredibly daunting because the history is so rich, and it's more than just reading, it's getting that knowledge in my body as well. ATS® is always going to be at the core of what I'm passionate about performing and sharing, but I'm excited about adding more depth to my dance to bring to my troupes and to fuel my solo projects.

I have the reputation of being the ATS® curmudgeon. Why? Because I think classic ATS® is an elegant system of dance and if you learn it and dance it as intended, it is beautiful, exciting, and fun to do and to watch. But it's also because tribal fusion bellydance has gotten so far away from it's roots, not just from the American tradition of tribal and proto-tribal (which is the thing that I fell in love with in the first place), but also bellydance in general.

This is Kallisti's interpretation of just how bad it's gotten:
SRS_2771

I must say I do like my neo-victorian outfit, but I can't see what that has to do with bellydance. That, of course, is the joke. Many of the members of our collective study traditional (non-tribal) bellydance in addition to ATS. They are talented soloists who layer their own experience and interests onto bellydance without venturing into crazy hot mess neo-victorian/steampunk/circus/crazier-fusion-than-you nonsense. We play zills. And I'd like to think when we put on our big show at the Faerie Fest it's more like Bal Anat or Hahbi'Ru where we can come together as a tribe and look awesome, and we can also breakout into exciting solos and featured groups showcasing the unique talents and passions of our individual members. And that, I think is a legacy worth preserving.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5i-_AfSC20&w=420&h=315]

Two Lessons from Kripalu

A couple weeks ago I was at Kripalu for a long weekend workshop with Erich Schiffmann. I waited a bit to write up about my trip because I wanted to see if I could hold onto the things I learned while I was away. The unfortunate thing about workshops and retreats is that often times there is just so much excellent material that it's impossible to absorb it all, and it's hard to take the relaxation and rejuvenation back into the real world. I feel like I'm actually doing a pretty good time of hanging onto it this time. As a result, there are two things that I've been sharing with my students and now I will share them with you.

1. Relax. It is really not that hard.
Before I went to Kripalu, I was feeling burned out, cranky, frustrated, and in short, pretty miserable to be around. As soon as I got there, I felt better. I arrived safely. I went to a yoga class and watched the snow fall. I ate a yummy dinner. I sat around a bit. I felt a million times more chill before I even did any workshopping. Why? Because I sat around and did nothing. It really is not hard. Try sitting around and doing nothing sometime. It's pretty awesome. Don't feel guilty about it, because I'm now 100% convinced it is crucial to your well being to chill out every once and a while. I'm reminded about a time last year when I had started ramping up my meditation practice and I was wondering if I should add a second seated meditation. I asked Erich, and he said something to the effect of, "Yes! It's not strenuous. You're not doing 20 pushups or anything like that. Try it and see what happens." So that is the advice I am passing on to you. You don't even have to meditate. You don't have to set a timer or anything, just say to yourself. "I am going to chill out right now." Drop a few slices of lemon or lime in a glass of water and look out the window. Pet a cat. Sit outside. Take a walk. It's great.

2. Do one thing at a time.
This is closely related to point number one. I have recently become convinced that multitasking makes you stupid. Recent studies have shown that when you practice mindfulness meditation, your brain learns how to be more focused and less susceptible to distractions. I would type out a list of all the things I might try to do at one time, but frankly, like any bad habit, it's embarrassing. As another recent article suggests, you might feel like you're getting more done, but you're spreading yourself too thin. So my challenge to you is to try doing one thing at a time. Try just eating breakfast without watching TV or reading email. Try driving without music playing. Try giving your full attention to the person you're having a conversation with. You might notice that your brain is still running a million miles a minute, but that is GOOD. Why? Because you're noticing what is going on and not just soldiering through every moment of your day. My theory is that you will become more efficient at the many tasks you have to do throughout one day. Meditation will become easier because you are deliberately slowing down. And most importantly and delightfully, you will find that there is space in your day for Item #1, and that will feel amazing. Priorities will start to fall into place and you will be able to make more reasonable choices about how to fill your days. For more on this, check out this awesome article my troupie, Amy, found about Escaping the Cult of Busy.

I have been giving my meditation students one homework since the beginning of the year and for forever: find 10 minutes to sit quietly at least once a week. We've been finding that even this small thing is difficult. Ten minutes is a long time if you are stuck in the Cult of Busy! So before you even worry about the 10 minute thing, I recommend first just trying to chill in whatever way feels good to you, and the rest of the time, do your best to do one thing at a time. It's working for me so far! I still feel pretty awesome and worry-free! Give it a try and report back.