v v excited to meet these Nashville yogis in person.

fall

Word.

Marichyasana A, modeled with a block and a bind.

This pose has a peculiar demand: *major* ankle dorsiflexion. A requisite for this posture is strength and flexibility in the ankle such that the knee can go forward and beyond the toes so as to get the center of mass towards and beyond the center of the foundation.

This can be a struggle for some, as these deeper ankle positions were not commonly taught in yoga rooms for many years, nor was deep squatting common in gym settings.

Thankfully, that has very much changed in the last 5 years.

Finding a position that allows for controlled articulation in the ankle is key for improving controlled articulation in other places... but finding a manageable setup pays dividends that are not so easy to see here.

Forward folding and pressure onto the forehead region is associated with the relaxation response and a great way to bring a feeling of safety into your mind-body organism. Utilizing the parasympathetic nervous system (think: rest & digest), this posture is a great way to support both anatomical and physiological changes that benefit the practitioner. Don’t let this poses stress you out, in other words. Adjust the setup for maximum personal benefit.

If you’re reading this you probably already identify as an ally. Great.

Speak up and create conversation. Don’t beat yourself up if you miss your first chance.

It’s never too late. It’s tough. Be brave and non-combative if your intention is to create healing and procure new anti racist allies.

WARNING: Pick a real person in real life. This is not the platform and you will waste your vital life force arguing with bots. Save your strength. #3: Non-Violent Communication: Get Uncomfortable

27

today

Death

idk

A no-nonsense way of going about finding peace:

First things first: have faith (shraddah) that peace is attainable for you.
Cultivate vitality (virya) — it’s hard to feel good when you feel like shit! Do the things that nourish your ability to be present in the moment.
This means some responsibility is in order: You have to wake up to noticing yourself feeling good— which also means waking up to when you feel bad so that you can note the difference. Then, when you notice yourself feeling good and maybe a bit happier or peaceful, your mission is to remember (smriti) it! It can help you have
faith that those vibes are legit.
Once you get good at noticing yourself vibing right, try to stay with it for longer periods of time— it’s totally possible. It’ll grow! You gotta try and stay present!
Lastly— once we’re able to be present for longer periods of time, things have a way of sorting themselves out. We suffer less, seemingly paradoxically by just being awake to all of our feelings as they come in. Somewhere inside the good and the bad is the truth— and it doesn’t done from rejecting any of it. And the truth brings wisdom... and the wisdom is how we can stop this process of self delusion and hurt making.
So there you have it: holding space inside of yourself for a personal experience of wisdom truth revelation means not rejecting, but experiencing. Not controlling, but observing.
We can wake up to love. We can wake up to now. We can wake up to wisdom (prajna). When these truths start showing themselves, you don’t wanna miss ‘em. It’s on the back of these truths that we can ride into a lasting peace. (Yoga sutras 1.20)

Having trouble finding the next step? That’s where Ashtanga Yoga (and I) come in. ⁣
⁣
This yoga system is a lot like the game show Jeopardy— it gives you the answer first, and makes you come up with the questions. That’s why it’s brilliant, and oh-so personal. ⁣
⁣
Ashtanga Yoga gives practitioners the framework to solve little puzzles— physical, emotional, temporal. ⁣
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In order for practice to work, we have to look inside for clues. They help to tease out what excellence, ethical living, and alignment truly mean to each of us as individuals. ⁣
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The Mysore style gives you a collaborative partner so that you can get some assistance in finding the next step— then get support in taking it. ...with friendliness and compassion. ⁣
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Then the next one. ⁣
And the one after that. ⁣
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Developing a yogic mindset is life changing— it allows you to trouble shoot without crumbling, to heal without spite, and to release long held labels without giving up either quality or personal values. ⁣
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Yoga Sutras 1:43-When the memory is well purified, the knowledge of the object of concentration shines alone, devoid of the distinction of name and quality. This is Nirvitarka Samadhi, or Samadhi without deliberation.
—-
Join me in the mysore room with DC Ashtanga, in Ecuador for an Ashtanga Adventure Retreat, or book a private online or in person. Link in Bio.

Yoga practice has an external form and an internal form. The external can show up nicely in pictures for those who take pictures nicely.
Internal forms show up relationally. They can’t be captured by a camera.
The way I see it:
-You can practice externally without practicing internally.
-You can practice internally without practicing externally. -External practice has a shorter shelf life than internal practice.
What does all of this mean?
The better long-term investment in your time is on the internal form.
So why practice externally at all? Frankly, If you can’t be alone with yourself, what are the odds that someone else will want to be in your company, either?

To get better at being better, having a practice that helps to improve your ability to be alone also helps you in your ability to be in relationship.
To be a better lover, brother, father, or community member: -learn a practice
-find some open space and practice
-get an accountability buddy -be alone, together.
If you are looking for a place to start, DM me. I teach practice one-on-one — in person and online.
Already started and need some coaching or an accountability buddy? Let me know.

welp

With a long enough timeline, there are no mistakes. ⁣
⁣
I have a personal philosophy around grievous errors in both life and practice that is predicated on the notion that a willingness to learn from and take ownership of behavior and action means that we have an infinite capacity to learn. And grow. ⁣
⁣
Forgiveness of others and forgiveness of ourselves requires honesty and contrition— with the only real apology that matters being the simple act of doing better. ⁣⁣
⁣⁣
In spiritual practice, it means that there is only learning and growing until we die. This philosophy encourages sober minded observation and radical honesty. It also demands that we give the same to others. ⁣⁣
⁣⁣
And, in this life, if we’re lucky, there will be many chances to practice these tools. ⁣⁣
⁣⁣
“The only way to learn forgiveness is to be betrayed. You might understand the intellectual concept of forgiveness, but you will only learn how to truly forgive when someone has done something that requires you to love them and let it go. Life demands these hurtful experiences for you to learn how forgiveness feels; it could be no other way. If there is anyone in your life that you must forgive, instead of seeing them as someone who has hurt you, try to see them as someone who was sent to teach you forgiveness and thank them for this precious gift—then forgive them, and let it go. “ – Jackson Kiddard ⁣
⁣
My teachers are human; they are not infallibe. They are people, just like me and you. Though I’ve dug deep into the Indian tradition of a guru-student relationship, I have done my best in later years to not put my mentors on pedastools— it’s not fair to them. They are guaranteed to fall. ⁣and, it allows them the very same human process I want for myself and for all creatures— learning, growing, and doing better.

mood.

into

3.

2.

OH 25

Balancing with the Equinox (that's on the 20th!!)—⁣
⁣
The myth is that you can balance an egg on its end on the equinox-- but what about a person on one leg?⁣
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This chimera of a posture is a combination of good ol’ tree pose and uthitha hasta padangusthasana.⁣
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Use it to develop and research:⁣
⁣
-active mobility: try not to use your hand to put the foot into place. ⁣
-balance: watch how you have to micro adjust while changing leg positions.⁣
-irradiation: use anjali mudra to create and keep useful tension/tensile integrity in the body. ⁣
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The posture facilitates neuromuscular development, end range of motion strength, and of course heightens proprioceprion. ⁣
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Learn more about the Equinox in the @dcashtanga Newsletter, or come to class with @michaeljoelhall and give it a try!

“Look around and see if you can find a single genuinely happy person—fearless, free from inse­curities, anxieties, tensions, worries. You would be lucky if you found one in a hundred thousand. This should lead you to be suspicious of the programming and the beliefs that you and they hold in common. But you have also been programmed not to sus­pect, not to doubt, just to trust the assumptions that have been put into you by your tradition, your cul­ture, your society, your religion. And if you are not happy, you have been trained to blame yourself, not your programming, not your cultural and inherited ideas and beliefs. What makes it even worse is the fact that most people are so brainwashed that they do not even realize how unhappy they are—like the man in a dream who has no idea he is dreaming. ⁣
⁣
What are the false beliefs that block you from happiness?“ ⁣
⁣
— The Way to Love: The Last Meditations of Anthony de Mello (a Jesuit priest)⁣
⁣
—⁣
My teaching schedule is updated on the site (link in bio) and I’m teaching a backbends workshop this Saturday at @eatonworkshop In conjunction with @dcashtanga 12/23, 12-3:30 in two parts— anatomy first and practice second. ⁣
⁣
Come for either or both. Message me to sign up.

Sebastian Cole Hall passed away today. He lived 15 amazing years with me, my mom, and my dad. He knew his toys by name, was fearless, and gentle. He helped make me the person I am today, and taught me about unconditional love. He was a very good boy.

Maha Shivaratri and Meaning Divination⁣
⁣
Once a year, in late Winter, there is a Hindu celebration called Maha Shivaratri — which means "the Great Night of Shiva." For a number of years, I was fortunate enough to be in Mysore, India for this ostensibly solemn celebration. Shiva is a yogic icon, being considered “the Lord of Yoga.”⁣
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For secular practitioners of yoga like me, the celebration is one for reflecting upon the infinite yet narrow intersection between destruction and regeneration— to wit, overcoming darkness and ignorance. Siva personifies that here. ⁣
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Unlike most Hindu festivals which occur during the day, this one is held at night. You spend the event remembering Shiva and chanting prayers, fasting, and meditating on ethics and virtues such as self-restraint, honesty, non-injury to others, forgiveness, and the discovery of Shiva.⁣
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Whilst the vigils went all night long, what i remember when going from temple to temple was the look of sugar-wired excitement in the children’s eyes, getting to run around all night long. ⁣
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Yes, as a secular observant of a sacred celebration, my memory banks were hard-codes with the pure joy and trouble and fun and exhaustion. ⁣
⁣
—-⁣
During the Vigil Night of Shiva, Mahashivaratri, ⁣
we are brought to the moment of interval ⁣
between destruction and regeneration; ⁣
it symbolizes the night ⁣
when we must contemplate on that which ⁣
watches the growth out of the decay. ⁣
During Mahashivaratri we have to be alone ⁣
with our sword, the Shiva in us. ⁣
We have to look behind and before, ⁣
to see what evil needs eradicating from our heart, ⁣
what growth of virtue we need to encourage.⁣
Shiva is not only outside of us but within us. ⁣
To unite ourselves with the One Self ⁣
is to recognize the Shiva in us.⁣
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—The Theosophical Movement, Volume 72[⁣
—-⁣
⁣
On the dawn of Maha Shivaratri, @dcashtanga has our first day at the @eatonworkshop —⁣
Mon-Fri: 7-10a⁣
Mon-Thur: 5:30-7p. ⁣
Doors are 1/2 hour ahead. ⁣
⁣
Schedule:⁣
Mon 12:45-1:30 Ashtanga Lite @balancegym⁣
Tue 12:00-1:00 Flow/Vinyasa - Eaton
Wed 1:30-2:30. Flow/Vinyasa - Eaton ⁣
Thu 1:30-2:30 Flow/Vinyasa - Eaton
Fri 12-1 Atheltes Yoga - Balance

6.

5.

4.

3.

2

1 1

⁣”You have to match their impedence,” @berylbenderbirch so elegantly mused. My ears perked up. As an athlete, I felt seen and heard when ms Birch spoke of facilitating a person like me’s practice of yoga—that being an active, sometimes social individual’s —on The Yoga Talks Podcast with @jbrownyoga . So often the physical aspect of practice gets derided as “low” or something— and in fact it’s through my bodily connection (or lack there of) that I’m able to access interior mind states. That my impedance. ⁣
⁣
She knows a little something about matching impendence— she’s helped thousands upon thousands of runners pick up a long lasting and sustainable yoga practice by offering yoga classes to the New York Road Runners. ⁣
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For a lot of folks, this brings to mind helping overtaxed runners stretch out some achy calves— and it very much is. But, and this is where it gets so deliciously subversive — teaching a class called “Yoga for Runners” doesn’t mean simply teaching calf stretches to marathoners— it means helping them learn how to use a really enjoyable and therapeutic sequence of body positioning to develop deeper states of attention. ⁣
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It’s from those deeper states of attention that the really juicey stuff starts to happen— like when meditation states start to spontaneously blossom out of those deep concentration states. And god, are runners able to concentrate on their poor aches legs. ⁣
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I’m one of the ones that was reached by finding *that* yoga teacher and *that* yoga class at my gym. ⁣
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Come see me at @balancegym on Friday’s at 12. I’m back March 1.

sunday

Values Over Rules⁣
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When I first started teaching Ashtanga Yoga in the Mysore style, I took a trusted counselors advice and established boundaries around my student - teacher relationships that were as close to water tight as i could get. I wanted a total lack of porousness to ensure I was acting from an ethical and honest place. ⁣
⁣
Like many things, this served me well until it didn’t. My first apprentice’s Shala turns two this year— and I am oh so very proud of her. As i understand it, my highest aim as a teacher is to watch my student grow until one day they eclipse me. And well, ol’ girl is giving me one heckuva run for my money!⁣
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As @livelyogini has grown, she has inspired a higher excellence in me, just as I have hoped to do for her. The symbiosis of the relationship is one of my greatest personal and professional joys. ⁣
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Part of that includes a necessary shift in hierarchical overtones— she is my dear friend and trusted counsel now. In the grand scheme of things, it means that rules have to change as paradigms shift— and because none of this is Permanent, it is highly anticipatable that rules absolutely will. ⁣
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No, rules don’t last forever. ⁣
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But values might. Like love, compassion, valor, integrity, and friendliness. But hierarchies? They’re meant to crumble. ⁣
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In @dcashtanga ’s most recent newsletter (are you signed up??) i shared a bit about how flowers have a capacity to hear bees, and how yoga relates. The truth is, some days youre the flower and some days you’re the bee— and we’re all just participating in making honey. ⁣
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@ashtanganation is one heckuva hive— ⁣
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Amrita Bindu Upanishad⁣
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18. After studying the Vedas (that is recorded knowledge) the intelligent person who is solely intent on acquiring knowledge and realization should discard the Vedas altogether, like the man who discards husk to obtain rice?⁣
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19. The milk is always white even though cows are of diverse colures. The intelligent person regards Jnana (learning) as the milk and the many branched Vedas as the cows.⁣
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20. Like butter hidden in milk, pure consciousness resides in every being. That ought to be constantly churned out by the churning rod of the mind

I wish I could give out Ashtanga Yoga merit badges— today’s would be “I was kind to myself. ”
Practicing yoga with a contented mindset matters a great deal— really, what we’re doing on our mats is exploring our inside world to find a place where we can be self-satisfied. Cause you know, there isn’t any person out there that can satisfy you except you.
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In order to do that work, we’ve also gotta maintain enthusiasm and heat around practice. Balancing that with our own self-satisfaction is hard— how are we to want to improve while also feeling like we’re golden just as we are?
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By identifying the kind of satisfaction and the kind of work that makes us feel more and more free. The kind that doesn’t make us suffer more. The kind that helps feel satisfied and enthusiastic not just in practice but in our life.
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In DC, a lot of folks take a push-hard get-results mentality to their work and their personal lives. They’re so miserable and don’t know why. They don’t want to be. So they push harder in all the ways— including on their mat. Maybe it’s not just dc.
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What’s sort of funny/poignant/ironic to me is that the place in which folks could stand to push extra hard is that whole “being kind to yourself” angle. Laying off from pushing so damn hard is actually way harder than literally pushing hard— and it builds a ton more heat and breeds a ton more joy, contentment, and cleanliness of mindstates.
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But doing the less “hard” thing (even when it brings them all the deep goods folks want way down inside) is so impossible that people push-push-push until they break. And then they wear their wounds as though they were honorifics on a sash. What if we could bring that same intensity to our self-compassion?

26.

KAYAK

☔️🌈

What do you think of when you try to imagine the most ideal circumstances for practice? Perfectly even floors? Temperature just right? Body totally on point? Supportive teacher by your side? I think those are pretty common. 🤷🏻‍♂️🤔 I, for one, hate practicing in the cold, and don’t like practicing in a stuffy room (gimmie that air flow!). ❄️☃️ This year, many of my students took up home practice while I was studying with my teacher. From a business perspective, this is scary... what if they don’t come back? For the sub, it’s disheartening (why don’t they like me???). Not to worry-- from my own experience, this is one of the great joys (and dare I say essential factors) in cultivating a personal relationship with practice: the ability and desire to just go do the damn thing. You can do it anywhere, anytime. Not when, ya know, everything's perfect... (It helps to visit a bestie in miami tho 💁🏼‍♂️ ). My teacher, Rolf, is about a foot shorter than me. To help me help him, and to help me help myself, he's equipped me with ways to work on things that allow me to learn and work independently.
At @dcashtanga we teach one-on-one in a group setting on a daily basis, empowering people with the skills to execute a physical contemplative practice with safety, skill, and longevity. 😍

For those who live just a bit (or a lot) too far, I like to travel on occasion and bring techniques and ideas that may be fresh or useful or different so as to help them develop a functional toolkit-- so they can practice anywhere. 🔧

Just like with my time away, where conditions can be near perfect, it's nice to work on the hard scary stuff in a supportive environment with clear direction -- but it's also great to develop the ability to work solo.
After all, yoga is a journey from the self to the self through the self. So, don't be afraid to work with what you've got... Like a palm tree between your legs. If you'd like to explore the backbending and hand balancing techniques going on here, join me at @mindthemat March 29 (click the link in bio to join me for a supple spine workshop 😉

Even as she molded this flesh like clay, she knew it wasn't hers. The parts of me that stuck to her were as happenstance and inevitable as the parts of her that stuck to me. She was not god, not molding me in her image, but wanting only for me to find mine. And to love it. It's through a kind of grace I see her in me, as I see me in me. As I strive to see God in me, all the more. I feel lucky that I see me in her.
It's an alchemy, to teach a person to spin pain into love. It's an art to see God in all things. But pain has no owner. No shape, no form. There can be no ownership of the infinite.
You'd be surprised at which bone is said to be the holiest. A foot stepping down can feel like crushing bondage. Unmasked and inverted, that same foot can bring liberation. It can also be missed completely.

Bam.

Hmmm.

Comment on your favorite -- I personally like the prophetic coriander.

For @kitty.schulz -- but, but... I'm not a cat person. And, uh, tiger pose.

Sunday's are often my rest day (heh: Saturday's, too) -- but when you're feeling like a pretty peacock on the beach, maybe you just gotta shake yo' tailfeather.
I saw @harmony_ashtanga and @waldenjessica talking about "being curious about what is possible" -- and ohhhh man-- doesn't the potential of limitless potential just make you wide-eyed, giddy, and wonderful? Doesn't the curiosity tickle your heart strings?

Tomorrow it's back to practice with community, so maybe I'll slow down on the beach videos.
The truth is, I rarely see my postures this way. At #DCAshtanga we have a "no cameras in the Shala" rule that has exceptions for kids & animals... and occasionally as a learning tool. I stick to it pretty strongly personally, too. Heck, Rolf doesn't even want us to bring our phone to the shala (and probably doesn't like that I've been talking about him on here...). Thanks for sharing some play time on the beach with me. Maybe I'll share more?

Fun fact: I packed everything for this trip into a carry-on. 🏊👙(count the short-shorts)

They come together to support each other with love. They care very dearly about the well being of others. They take their civic duties seriously. I am so very grateful to each and every person with whom I have shared open arms and hearts, especially those @dcashtanga

My personal favorite:

I'm excited for these new DC Ashtanga tanks. Want one and can't grab it in person? HMU!

Want a DC Ashtanga t, and can't grab one in person? HMU