Enjoy the Moment

Imagine practicing Bikam Yoga for a decade! Well our November students of the month have done just that! Neeta and Bharat have been practicing for 11 and 10 years, respectively. Neeta started at the urging of friend who told her about BYPV and within a year Bharat was practicing as well. Having suffered from significant neck pain and generalized arthritic pain for years, Neeta says Bikram Yoga has really helped to lessen these ailments and improve her physical well-being.

Bharat, who was already very active and healthy prior to practicing, (gym, weight training, cardio, personal trainer, sauna steam room, hiking, 5 and 10k runs) says that he has stuck with just the yoga for the past 10 years, never looking back on all of the other exercises he used to do. He says, "That tells you how much I like this and how many benefits I have experienced from yoga". His weight is under his control, HDL went up from 39 to 59, all numbers were good on his recent physical, he feels good, sleeps well, performs actively, and has no tiredness.

As Bharat talks about the yoga, he states, "Yoga has been an ancient Indian method of keeping ones mind and body in harmony. It has been practiced over 5000 years. There are many different types of yoga and all help, but Bikram has formatted this ancient yoga in such a scientific way so that it can be easily applied in today's busy life and yet still get all of the benefits of yoga."

Neeta's advice to new students is to "keep coming to class and continue your practice! That is the key to gaining the most benefits from Bikram Yoga." Bharat advises, "Be fortunate to have discovered Bikram Yoga in America which was only kept to the East. Be patient, and continue the practice at your own level and all the benefits are just the bi-products as your mind and body become harmonious. Be peaceful, be in the present, and enjoy the moment."

Appetite for Yoga

By Rachel Payne

When I was first asked to write about yoga and nutrition for our BYPV blog, my first reaction was that of resistance.

Why, you may ask?  After all, that is what I am going to school for.   To honestly answer that question, I don’t know why I resisted.  Maybe because I am always bogged down with essays, and research papers and the thought of having to write ONE MORE THING purely nauseated me and sent me into a child-like rebellion (and straight to the kitchen).  Or perhaps it was because when it comes to nutrition and fitness, there are so many variables, and one size does not fit all, so I felt like it was going to take a lot of preparation on my part and that was stressing me out. Or maybe it is my ever increasing senior-itis, and I just don’t want to do it.  Whatever the reason, it’s insignificant. Ultimately I wanted to deliver something personal, and authentic.  I wanted to talk to you about a subject that I have a passion for, a topic that many can relate to, something that keeps me up late at night reading and meditating upon….something that is me and that is potentially you too.  After a lot of prayer and meditation, I felt led to guide you through this mini journey of my life….my yoga and my nutrition…but with a much different twist. If I reach but one of you, my mission is accomplished...deep breath...are you ready?  Or a more appropriate question, am I ready?

From as far back as I can remember I have had a poor relationship with food.  Through all the tragedies and circumstances this life has handed me, food was my comfort.  It never talked back, it never disrespected me, it never judged me, it never abused me, it was always there; it flooded my brain with all the feel-good chemicals that I needed in order to temporarily ease the pain of the moment.  And now as a 30 year old adult, my relationship with food is still poor.  It is a vicious cycle, stressful emotions lead me straight to the kitchen, followed by remorse and guilt, which then sends me back into the kitchen.  Many variables play into this aspect of my life.  It is not just one thing that keeps me a slave to the cookies, cake, pudding, and ice cream.  But the bottom line is, it is an addiction.  But unlike the addictions of sex, drugs, alcohol, gambling, exercise, (insert yours here), food cannot be taken away.  We need it to survive.   Thus continues my struggle to overcome, or mend my relationship with food.  I feel like my own prisoner sometimes, trapped in this body that I cannot seem to maintain.  I bust my tail in the gym 5-6 days per week, I do yoga, I eat clean, I hydrate, and I rarely-to-never eat out.  Yet I cannot maintain any amount of weight I lose on a permanent basis.  As a Dietitian to-be, and nutrition professional, this is a constant struggle.  I want to live authentically, practice what I preach.  Every day I battle this addiction.  Every day I am faced with emotions that are hard to handle, not to mention the ever expanding waist line due to my frequent binges.  I have always been one who tries to practice what I preach.  And it is ever imperative that I lead a lifestyle in which my future clients will look up to and respect.

This struggle and reality is what led me to yoga.  Every day I face myself in that mirror.  It doesn’t matter how far away I am from the mirror, from the front row to the back row, I cannot hide.  That mirror is MY accountability. Looking, loving, and accepting myself is the hardest feat.  To accept today, the now, and THIS body is all my body wants.  My 90 minute moving mediation is my “cure”.  Every day when I am faced with difficult emotions that unconsciously send me straight to the kitchen, I stop and breathe.  What would happen if in that moment I put into practice all the discipline and focus I demonstrate on that yoga mat?  What if I allow the emotions to arise, watch them as a spectator without judgment, just as we are instructed to do in our daily yoga practice?  Imagine, most of our suffering comes from resisting what is already there, particularly our feelings.  All any feeling wants is to be welcomed, touched, allowed. It wants attention. It wants kindness. If we treated our feelings with as much love as we treat our dog or our cat or our child, we'd feel as if we were living in heaven every day of our sweet life.  This is what my yoga has taught me.  Have I mastered this? Absolutely not.  Every single day I start over.  Some days are better than others, but what I do know is that I always have my yoga.  It calms me, teaches me, encourages me, and keeps me in that space of gratitude.  All our bodies want is love and acceptance, and from that space, we are overcomers and conquerors.  There will always be problems, so many problems, but if we stay grounded in our own presence, in our own “alrightness”, we can deal with them from a clear space that our yoga practice creates within us.  The more and more we love and accept ourselves exactly the way we are, the better and better we will get at EVERYTHING.  Such self-acceptance creates emotional freedom which inspires all of us to grow to our fullest potential.

Thank you for allowing me to share this with you. You all motivate, encourage and inspire me.  I am grateful.  I look forward to sharing with you again, perhaps next time on a more educational note about yoga and nutrition.

Sucking It In To Move Forward

 By Constance Bradley

“Suck it in, Constance!”

If you have practiced in the same class with me, you have probably heard the teacher give me this correction.  Being told to “suck it in” is a frequent correction for me; I hear these words several times in each class.  Before you feel sorry for me, or think that the teacher is picking on me, you should know that I ask every teacher to remind me to “suck it in.”

You see, sucking in my stomach is one of the most difficult parts of class for me.  I find most other parts of class to be somewhat effortless.  Balancing on one leg? No worries.  Backward bending? I’m all over that one.  Sucking in my stomach?  That presents a whole new challenge for me.  “Suck it in,” the teacher tells me; sweat drips down my face, and I engage my core.  “Suck it in,” she tells me again, as I realize I have let my stomach creep outward.  Is it possible for me to find some inner meaning in all of this?  I rationalize anything challenging in class as a yoga gift, and I’m eager to open new presents.   This is why I ask teachers to remind me of my challenge during class.  As for inner meaning, the only thing I can figure is that I have to engage more of my core to properly complete the postures.

As a teacher, I fully realize that engaging more of my core is a technique that will pay dividends in the postures.  I have come to the point in my practice where I realize that proper technique and good alignment are critical to success in the postures.  One of the great masters of technique, Pablo Picasso, wrote, “The more technique you have the less you have to worry about it. The more technique there is, the less there is. ”  This idea resonates for me – I know that when proper technique is mastered, everything else will fall into place naturally.  I want to cultivate a lifelong yoga practice based on precise technique such that I am able to receive all the benefits of the yoga for many years to come.

However -- I will be blatantly honest here-- sucking it in is my own personal torture.  It’s uncomfortable; a technique that does not feel natural to me.  I admit that when I’m having a particularly difficult class, it is tempting to be dismayed when I hear this correction.   It is easy to feel discouraged; sometimes I wonder if I will ever succeed in having this be an effortless part of my practice.

“Suck it in,” the teacher says; sweat drips down my face, and I engage my core.  “Suck it in!” the teacher tells me 30 seconds later.  Once more I engage my core, my body weight shifts, and just like that, I’m deeper into the posture than ever before!  Suddenly, I find more meaning in these words.

Each time I suck it in, I am cultivating habits of proper technique and mindfulness in my practice.  As a student of philosophy, I often think of Aristotle’s central teachings in Nichomachean Ethics,   this notion nicely.  “We are what we repeatedly do,” Aristotle claims, “excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”  It’s not difficult for me to see where I have worked to develop other good habits in class, such as stillness in savasana or moderating water consumption.  Through repeated action, I am striving for excellence in my practice; each time I suck it in, I foster good technique and mindfulness despite physical discomfort and emotional travail.

Suck it in. 

Sometimes, it’s what you have to do to get where you want to go. 

The Intangibles

By Niki Hayes

Why do you practice yoga?

Do you want to lose weight? Do you want to be able to touch your toes again? Did your doctor send you here to help with your high blood pressure? Did your chiropractor send you here to help with your bad back? Do you want to lower your stress level?

If you answered yes to any of these - good news, you are on the right track! Yoga will help with all of this. Just know that while you may be doing yoga to heal your knee injury or shrink your waistline, there are also benefits occurring simultaneously that you may not be aware of. Bikram describes these benefits as “the intangibles”.

“Keep in mind that yoga is not reducible to a quantified number of medical benefits. Even as yoga makes measurable changes in your muscles, organs, bones and spine, it's also working on what we call the “subtle anatomy”, renewing and reviving you at the cellular level, invisibly taking care of every atom and molecule. There’s an emotional and psychological aspect to the healing process as well – the mind/body connection. This is soul-stretching, mind-restoring and Spirit-building. The unquantifiable improvements in your quality of life and your attitude toward life make themselves felt in every cell as well. When you’re well, they’re well.”

Be well my friends.

Adversity is a Gift

By Steve Rumpp

Welcome the adversity in your life. Don't go looking for it, or enjoy it- but welcome life’s physical, mental and emotional adversities as they happen, with total mindfulness.  See more clearly than you normally see, breathe more calmly, think more soundly, and be with the adversity in your life.

Your true strength lies within it.

Bikram likes to say, “The darkest place is under the lamp.”  Implied then, is that the brightest place (with the most to learn) is in total darkness.  “The more you suffer, the more you benefit.  If $1 buys 2 apples, then when you suffer more, the same $1 buys 4 apples.”  While we think we’d prefer to go through life without adversity, this proverb implies we would miss an important point were we never to be challenged to work through difficult times.  Conveniently, life is filled with plenty of just such opportunities!

It is in the depth of our challenges that we have the best view of our own life, of our present degree of Self-realization, of a fear we can dissolve in order to live a more fulfilled and happy life.  Just as it is within the stillness of our yoga that our most rare gems are to be found, so it is within our darkest moment that gifts await.

Greet adversity with increased calmness.  Demonstrate to yourself that you can handle anything.  That nothing steals your peace.  Ever. This is what you practice each day you step onto your yoga mat. Practice being faced with challenges and rising above them to find peace under any circumstance.

Learning to discover deeper strength, greater peace and new solutions to old problems from within our most difficult times, also serves as a model for the global response required if we are to meet the adversity facing our planet.  It is within this kind of peace that all of the world's problems will ultimately be dissolved.

Just like there is no such place as 'away' when we think of throwing something there, there is no such time or place called 'later' when it comes to living in right action.  No such thing, just an excuse to avoid ourselves.  Every choice matters, especially during our most difficult times.

How we handle adversity defines our power as individuals.  The seeds we plant through our actions and our thoughts create in turn the life we live.  No deals.  No exceptions.  No way around it.  We deliver ourselves to ourselves in every moment – good and bad.

Care about every little thing as if your life depends upon it.  Your happiness does.  Plant seeds of good in every action and every thought, and watch your life turn into the magic show of bliss and blessings that this life is meant to be.  Practice your yoga, live as a yogi in the fullest expression of detachment doing the right thing.  There is no need and no place for worry.  The universe will provide.

Adversity is also our reminder to be humble.  Say thank you, embrace these moments for the richness they possess and don't miss out on one of the momentary insights they contain.  Your life is about to change for the good.