Friday, December 31, 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
The Great Mistake
Psychoanalytic Perspectives: The Great Mistake, by Lynn Somerstein
About Psychoanalytic Perspectives Journal, published by the National Institute for the Psychotherapies Training Institute (NIPTI).
www.psychperspectives.com/
about psychotherapy, yoga, India, art
About Psychoanalytic Perspectives Journal, published by the National Institute for the Psychotherapies Training Institute (NIPTI).
www.psychperspectives.com/
about psychotherapy, yoga, India, art
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
11 low cost yoga classes in New York City
11 Low Cost Yoga Classes in New York City
Yoga class can be expensive. Here are some low cost alternatives:
1.Integral Yoga Institute New York City, 227 West 13th Street, Saturdays at 6:15pm. Class price is $5.
1.Integral Yoga Institute New York City, 227 West 13th Street, Saturdays at 6:15pm. Class price is $5.
2.New York Yoga Mondays: 1:30 – 2:30 PM Hot Vinyasa Yogi’s Choice. Pay What You Can. Kim West.
3. New York Yoga Tuesdays: 1:35 – 2:35 PM Hot Vinyasa Yogi’s Choice. Pay What You Can.
4. New York Yoga, Wednesdays: 3:05 – 4:20 PM Vinyasa Yogi’s Choice. Pay What You Can.
5. New York Yoga: Wednesdays 1:30 – 2:30 PM Hot Vinyasa Yogi’s Choice. Pay What You Can. Mika Samuel Hot Studio – 85th Street.
6. New York Yoga: Thursdays: 1:35 – 2:35 PM Hot Vinyasa Yogi’s Choice. Pay What You Can 85th Street Hot StudioNew York.
7. New York Yoga, Fridays 3:05 – 4:20 PM Vinyasa Yogi’s Choice. Pay What You Can.
8. New York Yoga: Saturdays: 1:00 – 2:30 PM Hot Vinyasa Yogi’s Choice. Pay What You Can Teresa Harris.
9. Yoga to the people: all classes, suggested donation $10.00
10. Atmanda Yoga: all classes, $10.00
11. Yoga Vida: all classes $10.00
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Lynnsomerstein’s Blog
Lynn Somerstein Just got a copy of the Russian Journal, Education and Youth, published by the University of Belgorod- with my article about yoga and psychoanalysis within. I am tickled!
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
13 tips to survive Thanksgiving
1. Don’t come with expectations. Just show up and be with people as they are, not how they should be or where you would like them to be.
2. Your imagination was your first toy, and it still can be.
3. Make believe you’re an anthropologist observing a strange tribe. Take notes!
4. Had enough to eat? Say no thanks and stand firm. Hide your plate. Or give a very detailed description about what happened the last time you ate too much Thanksgiving dinner. Gross.
5. Pretend you’re a hostage waiting for your release. How much money for your ransom? Who should pay? Maybe you’ll manufacture a wild escape. How should your jailers be punished? Let your imagination run wild.
6. Okay, so Aunt Rose never stops talking and has no manners. You’re not going to changeher- you’re stuck. You can sit and steam and ruin things even more for yourself, or you can find ways to dampen your burning fuse. Maybe Aunt Rose wants to be interviewed. Maybe you’re a TV host. Maybe one of you is Oprah in disguise. Take turns, even if Aunt Rose can’t.
7. Try deep breathing. Breathe out and make the room bigger.
8. Tell jokes to yourself, and to anyone else who might have a sense of humor. Keep the mean remarks private though.
9. Remember–all the spiteful things your nasty cousin says tell you lots more about HIM than about you, and you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. He’s pushy? You’re kung fu master. Let the negative energy flow right past you and back at him. BAM!
10. Try not to leave your body, if you can. Ground yourself by feeling your feet on the floor, your hands in your lap or on the table. Breathe. Focus you attention on something beautiful.
11. If that doesn’t work, how about an out of body experience? How do things look when you’re floating up on the ceiling? Wave to the folks down below. Can anyone see you?
12. Pretend you’re an invisible star or king or Buddha or angel. Knives, sticks, stones, not even nasty words can hurt you.
13. Act like you’re surrounded by Buddhas in disguise, and honor everyone.
Remember- therapy gives you tools you can use for self-defense as well as self-understanding.
Happy Thanksgiving
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Monday, October 11, 2010
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010
SYR 2010: Saturday evening
SYR 2010: Saturday evening: "Throughout the day I talked with people who are absolutely thrilled about this symposium. Researchers are definitely a unique group and they..."
Friday, October 1, 2010
SYR 2010: Welcome to the SYR 2010 Blog
SYR 2010: Welcome to the SYR 2010 Blog: "Please become a part of SYR 2010 as a follower of our blog."
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Yoga is not what you think!
“Yoga Is Not What You Think” by Ed & Deb Shapiro (Mitra & Dharmavati) that includes a quote from Gurudev. Jai!http://tinyurl.com/29zta7m
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Who is Swami Satchidanda?
Sri Swami Satchidananda, Integral Yoga Founder Leave a comment
Image via Wikipedia
Swami Satchidanada taught Dean Ornish, Sharron Gannon and David Life, Alice Coltrane, John Fahey, Allen Ginsberg, Jeff Goldblum, Carol King, and many others. But most importantly, his yoga classes on West End Avenue were designed to be financially available, so people with very little money (like me at that time) could take class.
These early classes preceded today’s yoga industry- there was no such thing as yoga pants, yoga blocks, or even yoga mats. Students brought a towel, which they place on a carpet, or rented a towel for 25 cents, if they wanted, and practiced asanas on the towel.
“If they wanted.” Many this is one of the most important yoga concepts, and Swami Satchidananda and his teachers certainly practiced it. There was no coercion. People were invited, not ordered, to practice yoga at whatever level was right for the individual.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Clinton goes vegan.
http://www.vegsource.com/news/2010/09/cnn-interviews-caldwell-esselstyn-md-dean-ornish-md-about-bill-clintons-plant-based-diet.htmlVeganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook
The New Vegan Cookbook: Innovative Vegetarian Recipes Free of Dairy, Eggs, and CholesterolVegan Fire & Spice: 200 Sultry and Savory Global Recipes
The New Vegan Cookbook: Innovative Vegetarian Recipes Free of Dairy, Eggs, and CholesterolVegan Fire & Spice: 200 Sultry and Savory Global Recipes
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
10 things I learned becoming a yoga teacher
Read More: Kripalu Center , Kripalu Yoga , Yoga , Yoga Instructor Training , Yoga Teacher , Yoga Teacher Training , Yoga Training , Living News
Once upon a sticky mat, you could teach yoga whether you had two weeks or 20 years of experience. Now, you shell out a few thousand bucks to a Yoga Alliance certified school--a shift that's bunched many organic cotton panties. Yet it's pretty much accepted that it's not nuts to semi-regulate a practice that can deeply change lives as well as tear ACLs.
As an old-schoolish yogini who's been practicing and writing professionally about yoga well before it sold Audis, I've yearned to teach for more than a decade. My burning got especially hot during moments when barely trained or cranky teachers barked erroneous instructions ("You'll get no benefits from this unless your forehead touches your knee!") or "assisted" with the gentleness of a PMS-ing drill sergeant (one actually kicked my foot into place).
So a couple of months ago when I got laid off from my cubicle-based editing job, teacher training topped the How to Spend My Severance list. I soon packed myself off to Kripalu Center's renowned, 30-year-old, intensive month-long program. Of the zillions of choices out there, it was a no-brainer for me because: A) It's got a great rep as a well-honed methodology rooted in compassionate spirituality; B) It's in the pretty, pretty Berkshires with fab food and a lake; and C) It's where I did my first yoga class as a 20-year-old college student many half-moons ago--an experience that set me on a bumpy yet gratifying journey to be more authentic, aware and loving. No mean feat for a native Manhattanite weaned on Woody Allen and the Ramones.
But what exactly happens at yoga teacher school? Downdog 101? Mat Placement for Dummies? How to (Really) Breathe? Yoga Butt Basics? Rumi for Ruminators? I really had no idea. Turns out it was kind of all of those things plus much more. After 27 relentless and wonderful 14-hour days, here's some of what I learned:
1) Atha Yoga Nushasanam. Bless you! But really, it's a sutra from Patanjali, one of the first documenters of yoga, which roughly translates as: "Now, the inquiry of yoga." On the first full day our co-teacher Devarshi (a.k.a. Steven Hartman) explained that yoga is less about getting anywhere than learning to embody our questions with full presence and awareness. Kripalu teachers are big on rhetoricals like: "What's that feel like?" "Where's your pelvis?" "What's your mind up to?" So rather than blindly follow a teacher and ignore the body, students are empowered to observe all that's going on, clamber back into the moment, and be kind to themselves when they get there.
2) Breathe. Though it may seem the most cliché of all yoga clichés, in the intense NYC vinyasa classes I'd been attending breath usually got lost with the compassion. But in my training breath was everywhere: "Surround every movement with breath," said our flow teacher Coby. "The best way to teach a safe class?" asked Devarshi. "Get them to breathe." It's because, he said, most injuries happen when the mind has wandered off to plan dinner or fret about that thing. Breathing makes you present. Being present brings you into your body. Then you're safe. And bonus: Being aware of being in your body allows you to delve into the essence of yoga, where all the juicy, relaxing, spirit-enhancing goods live.
3) 'Don't Pet Your Students.' That was from our co-teacher Priti, a.k.a. Robyn Ross, during our first lesson on assists--on drawing the lines between "creepy" and helpful touches. A little light petting is actually fine with me as a student, but yanking, pushing, twisting, forcing--and, perhaps worst of all, completely ignoring, not so much. We learned about six kinds of assists and to think of each less as "correction" and more as support. As Devarshi pointed out, 2,000 years ago yoga poses were fluid, not the frozen versions of the perfect posture we push our Western minds to aspire to now. Meaning, it's impossible to get an asana "wrong," but it is possible to do one unsafely or just not optimally for your body. And that is where a confident yet gentle, anatomically informed assist can transform Tadasana into Ta-Dah!sana!
4) Your Ankles Are Not My Ankles. Watching Paul Grilley's "Anatomy for Yoga" DVD during one of our movie sessions forever altered my hatha yogic view. Grilley's side-by-side comparisons of people show how anatomical differences affects their yoga. After you've been practicing about a year or so, he says, your flexibility will not change dramatically; you're down to skeletal basics. Heels don't touch the floor in a squat? That's simply your anklebones. Does headstand always hurt? Your arm/neck ratio might just not be conducive. Downward dog all about your shoulders? That could be compression on your acromial hook. All of which is to say: Whew! I can be so much nicer to myself--and my future students--when I think less in terms of muscular deficiencies to be overcome and more about skeletons to accept, love and adorn with the right props and suggestions.
5) Props Don't Equal 'Wuss.' Kripalu is all about conscious language, which is especially precise when it comes to props, a.k.a. to many as "ego-zappers" or "no I'm fine dangling/angling/crunching just like this, thanks!" The key is NOT to say, "If you're feeling weak, grab a block." Or, "Can't reach? Get a blanket." Or, "If you really can't balance like every other competent physical being then use the wall." But rather: "Even if you're feeling strong today, use a block if you like." Or, "If it feels good, try a strap." Or, simply offering specific guidelines, "If your hip is off the ground in pigeon, use a blanket to stabilize the pelvis." Ahh ... body supported, ego intact.
6) Watch Your Language! As a writer most yoga classes are a lesson in getting my mind to drop the red pen. So it was such a relief when Danny Arguetty, author of "Nourishing the Teacher,"hilariously taught our class on common languaging missteps (yes, I know, languaging isn't a word, but I accept it as useful jargon). The methodology espouses positive, clear, direct, supportive speech. Barriers to that include: disempowering words (e.g., "What I'd like you to do is raise your arm"); filler words ("So from here," "Just," "All right"); projections of experience ("Really enjoy the feeling," "Don't worry, it's almost over."); and my personal tic, adding "ing" to every damn verb ("reaching," "stepping," "ripping your hair outing because you can't stop talking like thising").
7) 'Be Kind. For Everyone Is Fighting a Hard Battle.' That's Plato, from a quote hung in a Kripalu hallway that I recalled during our Conscious Communication sessions. As every teacher knows, students ask questions--about the topic at hand and everything else. So as non-therapists, it's key to listen in a way that helps people feel heard. As we practiced this and my fellow yogis spoke of intense life struggles, from torrid to tragic (and often both), I remembered that no matter how serene we seem, we all are fighting a hard-ass war--especially if we aim to emerge with our hearts intact. The least we can do is deeply listen and authentically acknowledge each other--without offering fix-it advice or launching into our own tale of woe.
8) It's All About the Prana. Not just the clothing line, but the essence of the Sanskrit word, which means "energy," or "universal life force." The next time someone at a party asks me how yoga is different from Pilates, this is how I'm answering (with thanks and apologies to Priti, Devarshi and all future hosts): "Take your hand, place it on your chest. Breathe quick and shallow for 15 seconds ... How do you feel? Anxious? That's likely how you usually breathe. Now, put your hand on your belly. Breathe three slow, full, deep breaths through the nostrils ... Feel calmer? That's because you soothed your sympathetic nervous system. You also tapped into prana, the life-force energy. Breathing like that in yoga you'll soon physically sense that you're enough as you are--infinite, eternal and whole. A creature made of ever-changing energy, surrounded by the same. And once you notice the noticer, your witness consciousness, you'll bring compassionate awareness to everything you do, enabling you to embody and give your true self--a divine being of love and light. [Pause.] Stuffed mushroom cap?"
9) Ride the Wave, Dude. They gave us a visual for this, a wave and some arrows, but really all you need to know is: BRFWA! That's for Breathe, Relax, Feel, Watch, Allow--a method to sink into a yoga pose, experience a burst of rage, or sit through a dicey family dinner. It helps you respond rather than react, to feel a feeling all the way through so it doesn't get stuck in your mind-body craw, and to generally become a kinder, more emotionally generous person. And it's fun to say: BRFWAhhhhhh.
10) Always Wear Underwear. Toward the end of an afternoon anatomy session, our guest teacher Grace Jull said, apropos of nothing anatomic: "When teaching yoga, always wear underwear." Laughter. She went on to tell a harrowing tale of an unnamed male teacher and some splitting pants seams. It was a fitting bit of yoga wisdom to add to what I'm now realizing is a canon for lifelong journey, similar to life, but with lots of breath, awareness and motion. It's a life in which you still might forget to wear underwear while teaching 60 students and have your pants split, but then, instead of being only mortified and red-faced, you might also remember to breathe, relax, feel the embarrassment, watch the feelings and allow for it all to exist as an essential part of being hilariously human and uproariously whole.
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