2011 Ayurvedic Excitement

Skin of the Yogi: Natural Skin Care From Your Pantry
Back by Popular Demand!

Back Bay Yoga, Saturday Jan 23, 2:30-5. $50 (includes materials)

The chemical nature of most of the products available for body care is a problem for your health, and for your watershed. This workshop will beautify you AND the planet by teaching alternative ways of caring for skin and hair, using familiar ingredients which aren’t hard to come by. India’s ancient healing system of Ayurveda provided a sophisticated beauty regimen for royalty, using only ingredients found in nature. It’s time for you to treat yourself like royalty. You will create an Ayurvedic facial, learn how to care for your skin type, and go home with a goody bag.

JUST ADDED: AYURVEDA WORKSHOP FOR THE HOLIDAYS!

THE YOGA LIFESTYLE: HEALTHY HAPPY HOLIDAYS WITH AYURVEDA
SUNDAY – DECEMBER 5TH – 2-4PM – $30
at Samara Yoga in Davis Square
Learn Ayurvedic tips and tools to keep the balance this holiday season. We will cover how to maintain (or recover) digestive health through the holidays, yoga for digestion, how to be moderate without offending your hosts, healthy food and beverage recipes to stand in for the heavy ones.

Link it
http://samarayogastudio.com/workshops-and-events/

Ayurvedic Excitement in 2010!

Kate's Updated Workshop Schedule. Please see each school's site for exact times and prices.


COHASSET YOGA CENTER, COHASSET (south shore), Nov 13 10-12 and 1-4
http://www.cohassetyogacenter.com
with special guest Erin Casperson of South Shore Ayurveda

10-12 Hips and Shoulders, oh my!
1-4 Introduction to Ayurveda


SKIN OF THE YOGI: Natural Skin Care From Your Pantry
Back Bay Yoga, Friday Dec 3, 12-2
The chemical nature of most of the products available for body care is a problem for your health, and for your watershed. This workshop will beautify you AND the planet by teaching alternative ways of caring for skin and hair, using familiar ingredients which aren’t hard to come by. India’s ancient healing system of Ayurveda provided a sophisticated beauty regimen for royalty, using only ingredients found in nature. It’s time for you to treat yourself like royalty. This workshop is strategically scheduled at Christmas, because home facial kits make great gifts!

THE YOGA LIFESTYLE: HEALTHY HAPPY HOLIDAYS WITH AYURVEDA
SUNDAY – DECEMBER 5TH – 2-4PM – $30
at Samara Yoga in Davis Square
Learn Ayurvedic tips and tools to keep the balance this holiday season. We will cover how to maintain (or recover) digestive health through the holidays, yoga for digestion, how to be moderate without offending your hosts, healthy food and beverage recipes to stand in for the heavy ones.

Link it
http://samarayogastudio.com/workshops-and-events/

I am also available for private consultations, to support you in integrating Ayurveda into your personal and family life, to consider specific health and lifestyle concerns, and for individually structured cleansing programs. Please contact me through my website: www.ayurvedaboston.com

THE YOGA: I am an Ashtanga Yoga teacher Authorized by the K Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute in Mysore (www.kpjayi.org) You can catch me in the yoga room at Back Bay Yoga
Monday nights 5:50- 7:20PM Ashtanga Level 1/2
Sunday Mysore style Ashtanga 8-10 AM
Mon-Thursday Mysore style Ashtanga 6-8:30 AM
Please note, tradition requires new students observe part of one Mysore class and commit to attending at least 3x/week before beginning to learn the practice. Students with existing practice are welcome at any time.

ABOUT ME: Kate O'Donnell began yoga by accident in South India at age 20. Over a decade of studying yoga and the wisdom traditions of India support Kate’s understanding of Ayurveda. Her personal healing with a doctor in Mysore, India led to a love for the ancient healing system and inspired her to pursue a certificate course at the Kripalu School of Ayurveda. Kate is a Certified Ayurvedic Consultant and Yoga Specialist, as well as an Authorized teacher of Ashtanga Yoga. Her Ayurvedic lifestyle intensives, diet, and yoga workshops in the Boston area aim to help others come closer to their true nature. Illuminating self-knowledge through Ayurveda, Yoga, and community keeps Kate inspired.

June 30, 2010 Change and the Mind

I came more ready to change this time. There must be a surrender here, in so many ways. To the culture, the climate, the diet, the practice. “New asana, new pain” says Sharath.
There is certainly some newness going on. He walks my hands furthur up the legs in backbending this week than ever before. What is different is that I am not surprised. I used to be like “oh shit! He’s not! “ as he took each hand, gently, telling me to relax, and deepening the pose. This year, I know I am open before the pose comes. I know it is time and that everything else has lead up to this. I truly feel an all-encompassing moment of change at the culmination of every practice and because my time here is so short this year, and I don’t foresee when it will come again, I waste nothing of it.
I bring the mind back to the breath and release expectation. My spine is already shifting old patterns, before I even go back. I put all remaining efforts into keeping the barrel of the chest lifted, or else I am lost. I relax the arms completely and let him put them wherever; I take whatever part of the leg is there, hold the chest open, and bring the elbows as close to parallel as I can get them. The pain is in the shoulders, but I don’t push it so much. Shoulders are a different kind of pain, a sort of searing through the mind. Inside the wheel of that pose, I am in a vortex of sensation, of opposing forces, of faith and fear, of body and mind. I stand freely and find my breath, hanging on without gripping. I try to count 5 breaths.
Every day back bending is another story, another moment tells its own tale. I can feel consciousness slowly, with practice, expanding to take in more of that moment. I want to know every piece of it. Where are the eyes looking, what am I seeing? Is it painful or wonderful? Is there a sound inside? Can I feel the central channel? Can I move it with breath?
Yesterday, the story was this: the channel felt about 8 inches wide, going through my torso, a circle of blue light. When I drew my elbows in and settled into my legs, my center lit up and beamed. With breath, it got brighter. The mind comes in, fear is there, ahamkar pulls me up and out of there. Although some part of me wants to stay forever.
Is this what openness feels like? Why do I have to be in a deep backbend to feel it? I am trying to wrap my head around the truth I feel- some decision about change was already made months ago and this container, being in this place, in this stage of life, is allowing more openness. The name of the key has always been willingness. Coming home, the practice is to hold dear those moments where I touched something. No desire to repeat these moments, to escape what is, only to cherish the blessing of knowing it at all.
All the yoga until now has made me able to sense this, to know this place, to light it up consciously. I am one who wants to find the Lord through experiences of the body. It has always been so. As awareness deepens, I aspire to find it without…even…moving.
Meantime, so much energy is moving, I can’t sleep at night.

I took the opportunity to ask Sharath in his office yesterday if, after the few days of teaching I did here, he trusted me to represent this tradition. “Yes”, he said, “and so much will come from experience. But fundamentals must be same.” I believe he is calling us here to teach the fundamentals. In concrete terms, the fundamentals are drishti, gazing points; asana, posture; vinyasa, breathing system.
Drishti: Each posture has a point on which to fix the eyes. We must be familiar with the points specific to each asana and have the presence of mind to bust students on incorrect gazing. When the mind goes outside the practice, the eyes go outside the body. The sense organs, eyes ears nose mouth skin, are always going in search of objects for sensing. These organs are designed to be busy, bringing in information about the environment, which is important, yet yoga seeks to reign it in so the unconscious action of attention going outward becomes something we are aware of and can contain or utilize at will. Drishti trains the mind, increases focus. I find drishti to be an effective tool that is not often found in many yoga classes.
The vinyasa are fundamental to this practice and might be considered Krishnamachrya’s greatest gift to modern yoga. Vinyasa is a sequence of postures, practiced with specific technique, building up to performance of the main asana. In India, the word “performance” is used. We don’t “do yoga”, we “perform asana.” Performance implies practice and technique. It’s very scientific, the vinyasa, and Guruji was a scientist. That is why he called his Mysore shala the Ashtanga Yoga Reasearch Institute. He and Sharath have done a lot of research on the techniques of the specific vinyasas they are teaching. Sharath is sharing, as a fundamental knowledge of the Ashtanga system, not only what the sequences are (and these can easily be found on the internet) but what the technique is to help students achieve the desired effect of the main asana. The main Primary asanas, Marichasana D, Kurmasana, Baddhakonasana, and backbending must be understood in the context of an entire hour and a half practice which supports systematic, sequential performance. Each of the poses has a therapeutic benefit, generally relating to digestion, circulation, or nervous system (which make even more sense now that I am studying the Ayurveda). The postures are not effective without an understanding of the desired effect, which comes naturally with practice and everyone in the course this month has been studying here at least 8 years.
Correct breathing in the practice is another fundamental. We are instructed to listen to our students' breath. The technique of Ujaayi breathing is audible and it becomes obvious if a student, or oneself, is not breathing correctly. Inhale and exhale breath should be equal. Otherwise, the practice will exacerbate an imbalance of the pranas (circulations of vital energy in the body). When a student is not focused, angry, or afraid, this shows up in the breath. Through control of the breath, the mental disturbance is calmed. Learning to focus the mind on the breath, instead of all the information coming through the senses (including sensation in the body due to the asana) is THE key to the practice of Ashtanga yoga. Everybody knows Ashtangis are all about the breath, and this is why.
So these are some fundamentals, already commonly known. But to be busted mercilessly (they say Sharath is a Libra, but there must be some Scorpio going on!) on our own slip ups, whether we are practicing or teaching here, has again brought the fundamentals to the forefront. It doesn’t really matter how challenging the asana sequence is, the work of training the mind, containing senses, and smoothing emotion- all the while achieving therapeutic benefits, is present even in daily practice of the Suryanamaskar. It is up to each individual to know how far they want to go with this yoga, what is the personal goal. One might be happy with a 30 minute practice, if this is the attention span for drishti, asana, and breath. Slowly, slowly, our capacity to do longer, more demanding practice increases due to our modest daily efforts.
As for the “so much” that comes with experience, there is knowing how best to help each student perform a difficult asana correctly, knowing within a few weeks what fundamental is most challenging for each and creating an environment where individuals can master that challenge, then moving into the next.

MYSORE BLOGS 2010, TEACHER TRAINING

Ah, the familiar sounds of the Bapuji Children’s Home at 6AM. My first morning on Indian soil, I am awakened by the slapping sound of the laundry woman. An item is soaked, swung in circles above the head and brought down with gusto against the washing stone in the courtyard just opposite my second-story flat. And repeat: soak, swing, slap.
Next sound, the banging of the water pump, an old rusty metal lever which takes two hands to maneuver. A few bangs up and down, and the small bucket is filled. Soak, swish, swing, slap, bang. Repeat. The lever is screeching- they need to oil that thing. The chorus of children’s voices gets more complex as the crew wakes up. I look to see a girl of 4 or 5 years standing in a pink foofy dress staring at a little boy in the dirt.
The birds. What is that one sounding like a Cukoo? Every time I hear it, I am transported to Auroville where I first landed in India 12 years ago. I must admit, the transport back in time unsettles me, as the sound of that particular bird. Rev of a motor bike. Later, the fruit cart man yelling to announce his wares as he crosses through each neighborhood of Gokulum, third stage. Two-stroke diesel engine of a rick-shaw passing.
Ten Am, after practice (feelin good after the first few Suryanamaskar, except I can’t hold my balance), its still relatively quiet. Beep of a horn, ding of a bicycle bell. Flip flops on the street beneath the window. I am listening to the water boiling in the kitchen. I will let the pot cool down and have some drinking water until I contemplate putting on the shawl and heading out to see Swami, the tailor who also delivers 10 gallon water jugs, even up the stairs, sweating.
Speaking of sweating, it’s quite humid here. The sky has cleared up; I get anxious to do some washing so it may actually dry on the line. I get excited to do a lot of things, but I sit here instead, pacing myself.
I’d love to go through the smells with you and tell you of the variety, but my face feels swollen to double and I can’t smell much but a bit of must. The taxi ride from Bangalore to Mysore is not good for the sinus, no matter how much oil I put inside my nostrils. I must have wiped it out and reapplied half a dozen times yesterday.
Oh wait- I smell something, if I put my nose to the window. Cooking. Smells like vegetable oil frying. Heaviest breakfast on earth around here. It might be that time.

Namaste from Mothership Mysore!

The school children are still screaming, rick-shaws careening, and dahls frying out here on the Indian sub-continent. It feels as though I was just here. I unpacked the sarees and salwars from my trunk, along with local flip flops, a few stainless mugs, and some towels. Banging my laundry on the roof again, feels like home.

It is a blessing to be in a smaller group here with Sharath, all are teachers and it’s some serious comraderie. We are a family, united in representing this tradition of yoga. I am really seeing how so much of the yoga routine comes from a traditional Brahmin household. For instance, it is one’s duty to chant, one is raised to do it. I ended up at the notary with my landlord (now, that’s a whole different story, which will make its way to the blog, along with others when the politics clear up) for the officiating of a document. The two started speaking in Kannada and I could discern they were discussing their Japa practice of the Gayatri, 108 times in the AM. I was loving how a political meeting was laced with mantra.

The yoga students, we all sit around at mealtimes and discuss our students, our home places, our schedules, our bowel movements (just kidding- we’ve all been here enough we don’t even need to talk about poop anymore). I am always reminded that I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for YOU back bay ashtangis. I think of you daily. Your respect and faith for the yoga work, your dedication to the evolution of consciousness, inspires me to forge ahead. Teaching with you has brought me great respect for moderation, softness, and patience, all things I needed.

But ah, it’s so nice to just wake up and go to the shala for my own practice every day and get adjustments. It is heartening to find that my being is still opening despite having a daily teaching commitment. Perhaps even because of it. The practice is a bicycle we never forget how to ride. Trust me, its true, its always been true, even when we think we will never bind that Mareechasana again.

For those of you who were at the Intro to Ayurveda workshop at Back Bay Yoga, thanks for your interest! There will be opportunities to grow together in the Ayurvedic study and practice. Beginning with a week-end in October 16&17 focused on the much-promised fall cleanse. Followed by Friday afternoon workshops on the Ayurvedic Kitchen and Ayurvedic Skin Care, Nov 12 and Dec 10. All are at Back Bay Yoga, stay tuned for more workshops at other locations.
I will be heading to India for June and you can expect to see a blog once a week while I am there.

As mentioned, the link to learn about the Namarupa pilgrimage to North india THIS september! Join us... http://www.namarupa.org/yatra/yatra10.php

And (TaDa!) here is the recipe I promised for Ayurveda's most digestible food- Kichari, a rice and dahl soup.

Remember this: Food and the act of eating is sacred. Sit down; connect with your meals. Chew. Relax. Enjoy.

Kichari:

1 c. Basmati Rice
½ c. mung dahl (Split mung dahl is yellow color and can be purchased at Asian and Indian groceries. If it has added coloring, rinse double well in cold water and soak for a few hours before cooking, or overnight)
1 c steamed vegetables of your choice (one at a time)
1 Tbsp ghee
1 tsp each as you like, whole or powdered: cumin seed, fresh ginger, fennel seed, coriander, turmeric, salt.
Fresh cilantro (optional)

Cook the rice and dahl together with 6 c. water. White rice takes about 20 min. On the side sauté the spices in the ghee (except turmeric, you just add this one at the end) a few minutes, until you can smell them. Don’t burn your spices. These will be added along with salt before eating. If the veggies steam quickly you can throw them in with the grains and spices, stir with fork and cover for the last 5 minutes of grain time. If they are longer cooking, cook them on the side and add in with the spices for the last 5 minutes.