Yoga for Zumba Enthusiasts Workshop

Saturday, October 8th 12:30-2:30pm

Yoga for ZUMBA!

Yoga for Zumba® Enthusiasts is a great workshop for the Zumba goer at any experience level. You will have the opportunity to learn how the practice of yoga aids in everything from injury prevention, body balancing, cross-strengthening, mind exercises, and breathing techniques. Whether you have just started taking Zumba or have been dancing for years, please join us for this fun event!

At Life Time Fitness, Savage, MN
6554 Loftus Lane West
Savage, MN 55378
Main 952 226 1222
Class offered in the Education Center

Cost: $25.00 per Life Time Fitness Member OR $35.00 per Non-Member

Please pre-register by e-mail: maryaasher@gmail.com by Thursday, October 6th
6 participant minimum required by October 6th to run this Workshop
Please honor a 24 hr. notice of cancellation.

Meditation

Meditation – 4 week session: Sundays, 6:00 – 7:00 pm, Mar 20 – Apr 10
Registration deadline: March 14. ($48) Yoga Bella studio - Chanhassen, MN

Meditation is what is needed right now. With our foundations shaking, stress and strife rampant and many people pushed to the brink, we need to turn inward to find the answers.

Meditation (in what ever form or name) has always been the way for humans to stay connected to our source and to hear the inner voice. It is our way to connect to our intuition, to know the truths of our Self and Ourselves. We have all become so disconnected to everything that we've allowed great atrocities to occur, without even the blink of an eye. It's time to come back, to re-connect and to re-member who we truly are and what we are here to do. Meditation can take us there.

Physically, meditation has numerous benefits, from stress relief to better breathing, memory retention and lowered blood pressure. Even if you don't know what I mean by "reconnect and remember", you know you can get some physical benefits from exploring this practice. It is just the beginning and a great start it is!

Each class we’ll explore different methods of meditation and we’ll try both quiet meditation and guided meditation. Use this class as a way to create a meditation practice and to address the specific concerns or issues that come up as you continue your practice. This class is definitely for you if you’ve ever said, “I can’t meditate because I can’t make my mind stop.” (and I'll explain the misconceptions about meditation as well) Wear comfortable clothing and bring something soft to sit on, such as a blanket or cushion.

Backcare Basics with Yoga

Did you know? 31 million people say they suffer from low back pain during the year.

The statistics are staggering, but statistics aside we all know about back pain. Either we've experienced it for ourselves or someone we loves has experienced it. Maybe it's not pain that plagues you, it's a feeling you aren't standing tall. It could just be that you know you need a stronger core. Aside from the foundation that our feet provide, your back is crucial to your physical well-being.

Join me this Saturday for a special workshop all about the back. I'll talk about how the back works in relation to your posture and basic movement and we'll take that knowledge into using the back in Yoga poses. We'll do poses to help strengthen and stretch the back and to work the core to support your back.

If you are new to Yoga this class will help you to prevent injury in your back during Yoga class. If you are more experienced in Asana, use this class as a way to further your back flexibility and strength to get deeper into your backbends.

Backcare Basics with Yoga
Saturday, February 26 1:00 - 3:00 p.m.
$25 for Life Time Fitness members/ $35 for non-members
Register by e-mailing me at maryaasher@gmail.com

Marya's Class Schedule

YOGA

River Valley YMCA, Prior Lake, MN (membership or day pass required, click here for website)

Tuesdays 9:30 - 10:30 a.m. (rm 162B, church)
Tuesdays 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. (rm A)
Thursdays 10:30 - 11:30 a.m. (rm 162B, church)

Lifetime Fitness, Savage, MN (membership or day pass required, click here for website)

Sundays 10:00 - 11:00 a.m. (Studio 2)

Note: Bring your own mat. Suggested props include blanket. Blocks and straps provided.

BELLY DANCE

Yoga Bella, Chanhassen, MN (click here for their website)

Tuesdays 7:15 - 8:15 p.m.

Note: Showing your belly is NOT required! Wear clothing appropriate for yoga, bring a scarf to tie around your waist if you have one. Scarves will be available for your use.

MEDITATION

Yoga Bella, Chanhassen, MN (click here for their website)

Sunday, June 27 7:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, July 25 7:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, August 29 7:00 - 8:00 p.m.

Note: Bring something comfortable to sit on such as a blanket or cushion.

Time to sit down

It's time for meditation. For me at least. I don't know about you. Do you meditate in the morning? Do you sit in the middle of the day? Do you meditate at all?

I have wanted for years to meditate. I thought about it but never really did it. At first I did so with guilt. Then I let go of the guilt and spent some time in longing, wishing I could be that dedicated. I've even taught classes in meditation - how to do it, when and where to sit, and of course, why it's important - but I didn't do it regularly myself. It wasn't until almost a year ago that I realized the deep connection I sometimes felt was something I really wanted to tune into on a regular basis. So then I made a concerted effort.

I tried mornings and found my body was just too stiff for it to be tolerable. I was more apt to be interrupted in the morning, once one or all 3 of my children woke up. I tried the middle of the day. The challenge was that the middle of the day was different each day because my schedule varied so much. I like consistency and needed that to create this habit. I settled on the evening. After the children where asleep and the house was dark and quiet I found more places in my home that seemed comfortable for meditating. I like my bedroom on the floor or sitting on my bed. I like the couch, near the corner table. I would practice stillness while lying with my children as the drifted off to sleep. I would spend a few moments in gratitude as I warmed up my own bed.

What I have found is that I couldn't push the matter, I couldn't force myself to do it. I had to want it and want the feeling meditating brought me. I had experienced it enough to know that it felt good. I had learned it and taught it enough to know how to do it comfortably. I even acted as if - I told people that I meditated regularly. Not to create a farce, but in essence, to talk myself into it. What I have found is that I allowed myself to experiment with it to find what worked for me and to know that I am a better person when I meditate. I am calmer, more peaceful and more aware of my self. I want more silence and solitude. I have a 3 year old, I need all the silence and solitude I can get! I can now create this sanctuary of my own release and connection to my breath anytime I choose to. Now I practice this too.

Meditation doesn't need to be complicated. So many have said to me, "I don't know what to do" or "I can't make my mind stop". The most important thing you need to know about meditation is that you don't have to make your mind stop and there really is no thing you "do". You just sit down and be still and silent. Then pay attention to what happens. Eventually your mind will tire of the constant chatter and it will get silent too. Then the magic happens.

To relax, or not to relax.

"Man is so made that he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another."
- Anatole France

Does that sound like you? An example of this would be, taking a break from cleaning the house and "relaxing" by watching TV. Or "relaxing" from your work to check Facebook. Give me just about anything you do to relax and I can tell you why it isn't really relaxing. And now I'll tell you why you should care. Relaxation is the one true thing that will counter stress. Stress being more than just the generalized term used to describe everything annoying, interfering, interrupting and downright disliked that exists in our lives. It is all of that, to be sure, and it is so much more.
Stress is a physiological response of the body to something that is life threatening. Or at least it's theoretically life threatening. It could be a car accident, or near accident. It could be an illness or the illness of someone close to you. In modern times, however, it is usually something slightly less. It's the boss who hovers over your shoulder and never finds anything right in what you do. It's your spouses not so nice comments about your weight. It's the car that breaks down and costs more money than you have. Or the children that forget to do their homework and never seem to clean their room. It could be positive too. Your wedding, childbirth, interviewing for a new job, even winning the lottery. Stress like that is not life threatening but it sets up the same response in the body.
So what happens? When a stressful event occurs. adrenaline and epinephrin are released into the bloodstream and your heart rate goes up and blood pressure increases. Glycogen is released by the liver, your cholesteral increases and blood sugar goes up. Your breathing quickens to increase your metabolic rate. Your muscles tense to prepare for flight and lactic acid increases in the muscles. Cortisol* levels increase and your immune response is suppressed. All of this happens to prepare your body for the good old flight-or-fight. If it's life threatening you either fight it off or your run from it.
(*Cortisol is the hormone that causes you to retain fat around your middle)
Most of our stressors now are not life threatening. There IS nothing to fight or run from. There is no major physical action to burn off all this increased, well, everything. We get stuck in traffic - ZOOM - heart rate goes up. A customer yells at you on the phone - BAM - you start to sweat. Someone makes an inappropriate remark - BOOM - your muscles tense. Now what do you do with it? And this is happening every day. This build up in your body is happening on a regular basis without any real release. Can you see where our major health issues come from? Look at the list above again. Increased blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, cortisol levels and suppressed immune system.
It's time we recognize the importance of relaxation. It's really important. So here's the thing - watching TV, having a drink, reading a book, even sitting in a lawn chair watching the neighbors are NOT relaxing. It may seem that way because at least it's not stressful. What is truly relaxing? Meditation, breathing exercises, relaxation exercises or lying still on the floor. I seriously considered stating "exercises" after each one of those. Like with your cardio, stretching or even weights workout, these are exercise too. Consider it your mental or well-being workout. It's something you need to practice and do regularly in order to engage your relaxation response. Go to a class if you can, because for many people relaxation can be a challenge. Many people think they can't do it or they don't know how. It's crucial to try. Your life will thank you for it.

Can you be a beginner?

Beginners mind. It's something referred to in Zen philosophy and other eastern philosophies. It means that you approach a situation, or life in general, as if you are a beginner and know nothing. I think it it has many purposes. The most basic is that you know you are not living by your ego when you approach something with a beginner's mind.

Can you do it? When you go to work do you say to yourself, "I can do my job, I know this, this is easy" or do you say, "what can I learn today? what is new about his job?". When you are around kids, do you act ever the authoritative knowledgeable parent or can you stop and actually listen, eager to hear what is on young minds? Now here's my favorite. Can you attend a class, let's say a Yoga class, and do everything the teacher asks, the way the teacher asks as if you have never done it before in your life? Or do you just do your own thing because you know how to do it and don't need to wait for the instructions.

If you approach something assuming that you somehow know everything about it, there is resistance in you somewhere, there is ignorance lingering. There is a lesson for you, whether you know it or not. The good news is that you have great opportunity to learn.

I have realized that there are only 2 types of people who go to a teacher. Beginners and Resistores. You can't tell true beginners from those in a higher consciousness that are exhibiting "beginners mind". Everyone else is resisting. What, I can't tell you. That is your lesson to learn.

What are you resisting today?

WoYoPracMo

It's that time of year again! WoYoPracMo is back!

In case you aren't up to speed on tongue-twister-esque social site names, WoYoPracMo stands for World Yoga Practice Month. If you are a yoga practitioner or teacher, please join me and other Yogis and Yoginis in dedicating yourself to practicing yoga every day in January. You can set up your own page, add photos, blog about it, read other people's blogs and you may even get a prize!

When you join, come be my friend - search Members for Breezeatdawn. I want to hear how YOUR practice is.

Need some inspiration? The Musasana pose of the month is Vasisthasana, better known as side plank pose OR better known as the one my students groan about. I love it though! It's great for strengthening the core, legs and upper body. Let me know how it goes for you.

Thanks Giving

"When you arise in the morning give thanks for the morning light, for your life and strength. Give thanks for your food and the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks the fault likes in yourself."

- Tecumseh, Shawnee Chief

Today I give thanks for:
My loving husband, his partnership and his humor.
My amazing children, their wonder and authenticity.
My family, their unconditional love and everything they have taught me.
The Muses, their inspiration and acceptance.
Yoga, it's benefits of health and opening my mind to many more things.
My body, for all that it is capable of and for being not flawless, but whole.
Nature, for teaching me and feeding me (in more ways than one).
Money, not a weapon but a tool.
And for all the things that I have resisted and disliked and feared, for they have taught me the most.

Gardening, Yoga and Golf

It's golf season! (at least here in Minnesota where it got down to 43 degrees last night) My husband and I are starting our second year of a couples golf league. I started last year after a 10+ year absence in playing. It was so much fun! It's great to share a hobby with your spouse that you both really enjoy. Plus it was nice knowing that I had a regular commitment to a night out sans kids every other week.
What has been amazing to me is the difference in how I played last year vs. last time I played. I attribute it all to my yoga practice. The difference? I'm so much more calm and centered. I can concentrate on the ball and move with more intention. I'm more flexible, of course, and stronger. Yet probably the biggest difference is in letting go. It does not matter if I hit a bad shot, I don't feel embarrassed if I miss it completely and I don't really care who's watching. It is just a game after all and aren't games meant to be fun? So I just enjoy the company, the evening out and the fresh air. That's what's really important to me.
So what does this have to do with gardening? I also enjoy gardening and growing my own vegetables. The past weekend I rented a tiller in order to expand my garden. WOW, am I sore! Like a boot camp for the upper body. That AND coming off a little illness AND the fact that I haven't even been to the driving range yet this year and this league night should be interesting.
Here's what I'll be doing the next couple of days: going to the chiropractor, getting caught up on my sleep (no more sick baby??) and lots of YOGA
gentle twists (sukhasana with a twist)
shoulder openers like gomukhasana (cow's face pose)
and backbends like Cobra (love that pose!)
LOTS of shoulder rolls
Lunges, Trikonasana (triangle) and Parsvo Trikonasana (revolved triangle)
Here's a great Yoga Journal article (among others) about yoga and golf. Look out Annika, here I come?

Month of the Mountain

When I teach Yoga classes to beginners I often say that the first class is a lesson in sitting, standing and lying down. The are invariably 3 poses I always do in every class: Sukhasana (easy sitting pose – see my pic at right), Tadasana (Mountain pose, standing) and Savasana (Corpse pose, lying). I’m also known to say that after that first lesson beginning yoga becomes like a game of Twister. Left foot red, right foot green, arms overhead… you get the picture.

Several of my fellow teachers and I are studying one yoga pose more in depth every month starting this month. As practitioners ourselves it is helpful to have a them to our practice or something to focus on. You challenge yourself, you learn new things, your body is always changing so there are always new things to learn. The same things apply when you teach – you want to learn more. The difference is that you also want to share what you’ve learned.

Tadasana, or Mountain pose, is a great introduction to Yoga. If only I had a nickel for every time someone said to me “I can’t do Yoga, I’m not flexible”. That only tells me that they have no idea what Yoga is and just don’t even want to go there (lack of interest, lack of understanding, fear?) The point is, you don’t do Yoga because you are flexible, you do it to become flexible. At least that’s my counterpoint. For further clarification I’d also like to add that it increases strength, endurance, relaxation and a sense of well being. Frankly, I could almost care less about being flexible. As another great Yoga teacher once said “They won’t put on your tombstone ‘she had really open hamstrings’”.

Back to Mountain pose. Mountain pose, in essence, is standing straight up and standing still. OK, there is more to it than that. The rest of it, however, is a practice in subtleness. How am I standing? What is my posture like? How do my feet feel? Where is the weight in my feet? What are my toes doing? How does my back feel? Are my shoulders lifting, slumping forward or gliding down and back? Is the weight of my head balanced? I could go on. You could think of it not as ‘just standing’ but as really STANDING. Try it sometime and you’ll know what I mean.

Want to learn more? Find out what we learned during our Month of Mountain pose.

Breeze at Dawn Significance

Only several people know the significance of my blog's title "The Breeze at Dawn..." and a couple of those have suggested (a long time ago, mind you) that I share what the heck it means. It comes from a Rumi poem. It has a lot of significance for me. Are you ready? Here goes...

10 years ago my husband and I moved from the Chicago area to the Minneapolis area. We loved Chicago (my husband grew up there) but the time was right for us to leave. We came to Minneapolis because it was halfway between Chicago and northern Minnesota (where I grew up).
I was 26 and still relatively fresh in the "real world" - job, career, new marriage, responsibilities, blah, blah, blah. All of which created STRESS in my life. Along with STRESS came some of it's hoodlum friends: fatigue, headaches, chronic digestion problems, lethargy, muscle spasms. STRESS and friends loved the idea of moving. Road Trip! they yelled and packed their bags.
Once in Minnesota I found a new job. I loved the work we did (food marketing) but hated the environment (working for a married couple out of their home - yeah, I know, what the hell was I thinking?) I traveled quite a bit and eventually started having panic attacks. 1. because I hated flying, and 2. because I often traveled with the man of the couple and he was like the most obnoxious, sweatpant-wearing, too-loud-talking, inappropriate-moment Dad you hated as a 15-year old. I actually took muscle relaxers when I had to fly with him. STRESS had invited one too many friends to the party so I finally had to start kicking them out.
First thing I did was find a new job. But, alas, new job means new and different STRESS. (The message here is that stress is not always something that happens to you but how you react to those things) The second thing I did changed my life. I started doing Yoga. I had heard it was good for stress relief, so 'What the heck?' I thought. It began as a simple Community Ed class. Then it just so happened there was a Yoga studio down the road from my new job. I began going 3 times a week. WOW! - what a relief. That summer I had many moments of peace and serenity that I now know is possible all the time. All I knew then was that it was heavenly, felt really good and I wanted it. I've been working towards it ever since.
So, what the hell does this have to do with "Breeze at Dawn" you say? Settle down, I'm gettin' to it.
Ever have something happen in your life that is so out of place and unusual that you know it's a sign, and has some greater meaning that you don't fully understand? This is mine.
It was during that time in my life that one morning I went to my front door (to let my dog out) and saw a piece of paper on the doorstep. It was an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of white paper folded in half. No words, just blank. I picked it up and opened it. This is what it said inside:

"The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you
Don't go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don't go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across
the doorsill where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don't go back to sleep."
- Rumi

There is more on the page which I will share another day, along with what I feel this poem means to me (it's meaning continues to unfold over time).
I have it memorized. I think of it often. And I still have that piece of paper.

Glutton day

Sometimes you do things and in the middle of them you enjoy it or maybe don't even think about it, then later you suffer and wonder what in the hell you did that for. Today was one of those days.
I've been kind of an exercise fiend lately. Although I don't really call it exercise (makes me think of circa 80's aerobics classes with leotards and leg warmers). I just think of it was, well.. I guess I don't think, I just do. I DO Yoga, treadmill, lift weights, Tae Kwon Do, elliptical, walks and belly dancing. I enjoy it so I do it. Anyway, I've done a lot lately but still find myself a little doughy and underneath that doughy exterior is a hard body waiting to come out. It's just the cookies won't let it. Girl Scout Cookies, chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, haystacks (not really cookies but who's checking?) and now Keebler chocolate graham thingies. I went to the store yesterday to get ingredients for Minestrone soup (the most delicious soup I've ever had) and then had to go and ruin it by buying treats from Elves. Of course that wouldn't be the biggest problem. Here in a nutshell is the biggest problem:
I left them in my car.
I ate them mindlessly while driving.
By 5 o'clock I'd eaten half the package.
At 6 o'clock I taught a Power Yoga class.
At 7 o'clock I did 20 minutes on the elliptical.
At 7:30p.m. I had a headache and wanted to throw up. In fact, I even said to my friend, "Do you suppose if I talk about throwing up enough that I actually will?" Seriously, it would have felt better.

That'll learn me. I got home at 8 and ate a bowl of Minestrone. Did I mention it has 10 different vegetables in it? I feel much better. And I threw out (not up) the damned treats from the Elves.

Books

25 days of my favorite things - # 9

Unofficially, bread was #8, although I think I may make it the 2nd addendum to Food (glorious, food!). Today I'm celebrating the equally large and all encompassing category of BOOKS (glorious, books!).
My name is Marya, and I'm a bookaholic. Which is not an easy thing to get over as many of my friends and family are too. I avoid Barnes & Noble and other stores, I've tried the library, and I've even signed up for Booksfree.com. I used to keep them (or hoard them, depending on who you ask). At least now I can give them away. I sell them on Ebay, I give them to Goodwill and give them away as Christmas presents. But I just can't stop! I've resigned myself to my wish list on Amazon and at least try to pace myself.
I've also gotten much pickier about the types of books I read. Funny, but it hasn't seemed to diminish my selection in any way. In my teens I read a lot of Stephen King and sci fi and classics. Then I started reading more historical fiction and best sellers. Now I love good short stories. Stories from real people telling about real and wonderful events. And yoga, and inspiration, and manifesting, and wellness, and quantum physics, and on and on.
I also tend to read several books at a time. It doesn't always make me feel productive but at least there's one for my moods:
The book for light reading or fun: Timepiece and The Letter by Richard Paul Evans
The book for bedtime reading: The Bhagavad-Gita (qualifies for several categories)
The book for inspiration: Inspiration, Your Ultimate Calling by Dr. Wayne Dyer
The book for deeper learning: Ask and it is Given by Hicks-Abraham

Read any good books lately?

Yoga Practice

In case you didn't already know, January is World Yoga Practice Month, or WoYoPracMo. (www.woyopracmo.ning.com, my name is breezeatdawn). My teacher discovered this site and she and several of her students (including myself) have signed up and committed to practicing yoga every day this month or "31 in 31".
My first couple of days started kind of slow. I didn't feel good, then my daughter got sick. Several times I practiced work-around-the-baby yoga (feet up the crib side pose, jungle gym for the baby series, etc.). Yesterday I snuck in 12 Sun Salutations after I taught class (at Gold's Gym). Today I did yoga this afternoon in the kitchen. I randomly picked a series out of an old Yoga Journal magazine, turned out to be on the hips which is one of my challenge areas. I love working on the hips, it's just that after having 3 kids my hips are, as I call them, "wonky". I've seen the x-ray, they are literally twisted. I could go into the gory details but suffice it to say that it affects my entire body. Today was no different. The outside of my left hip kept cramping up and both my sides are tight as can be. We'll see how my hips feel about me come day 31.
On the bright side, my nemesis child's pose actually felt pretty good today. Of course it would be after attempting Astavakrasana (Eight-Angle Pose). Yeah, it's as ugly as it sounds. Especially the way I did it.

I'm sitting here...

...at my computer, about to write about Yoga in my blog, looking at the Yoga Sutras, trying to find the one about Yoga being in ease (II.46: Sthirasukhamasanam). Then I have this thought,

"I could get to a place where I am peaceful and unwavered and not affected by anyone or anything or their actions"

I'm not sure if my sentence truly projects the way that thought felt. It is good and calm and peaceful and hopeful. It once again directs me back to myself, as the answers are within me. I like that place, that kind of peace. It's like a big juicy fruit (a pomegranate?) that is like liquid heaven and you could eat it all day and it never makes you full. I want to eat the fruit of that feeling, that kind of peace. All of the sutras are speaking to me now, suddenly guiding me, reminding me what needs to be done.

So instead I give you this, Sutra I.33, as poetically translated by Alberto Villoldo, Ph.D.:

"So many ways to still the mind,
make friends with those who live in joy,
have compassion for those who suffer,
delight in those who shine with virtue and integrity,
turn your thoughts away from those who dwell in darkness."

Thanks and Gratitude

I teach Yoga at a suburban Gold's Gym. Not the kind of place you'd expect for a teacher like me. Some of the other teachers (exercise class teachers) call me a 'mat girl' as in, "do you teach other classes or are you just a 'mat girl'?" But I like it because it's close to my house and I have all my props there and they let me teach whenever I want. I've also developed a pretty regular group of students who are looking for more than just a 'mat girl'. Believe me, they wouldn't keep coming back if they didn't.
Yesterday morning I taught a class with a Gratitude theme. I started by reading this great quote recently sent me from my dear friend Karen (thanks, Karen!):

“We have noticed that when you are in the mode of appreciation, that is the closest physical thought process that harmonizes perfectly with the pure positive energy that comes forth from within you of anything we have seen in your physical experience.

Someone said ‘Isn’t love closer to that pure vibration?’ And we say Love and Appreciation are the identical vibration.” ~ Abraham – Hicks

Then I told a story about myself and a time when I overcame a really angry moment by focusing on what I was grateful for (let's just say it involves knives and mushrooms). The inspiration was to find small things that we're grateful for. As we went through class I gave examples of things I was grateful for in the moment, to help keep our focus and give inspiration. Here are some examples:

• I'm grateful for my hands and fingers (all 10 of them!)
• I'm grateful for my yoga mat
• I'm grateful for being able to make mistakes and nobody really cares (in a good way)
• I'm grateful I can stand up
• I'm grateful for laughter
• I'm grateful I can relax

At the end of class I expressed my gratitude for my students and the opportunity to share my knowledge of yoga with them. After gathering their things, one student came up to me after class and said "I'm grateful for you" and walked away. Luckily I was able to blurt out a "thank you" as she left but I have to say I was a little dumbstruck (or awestruck?). Sometimes we forget how much impact we can and do have on others. Wow, am I grateful for that moment. Happy Thanksgiving!