Sunie Yoga

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Friday, March 30, 2012

Where is Your Home?

"Life without commitment is like a flower without a fragrance.  Life without commitment is like a moon without light.  -- Yogi Bhajan


Artist: Pooyan
I am a Free Spirit.  I find new projects, become fully absorbed, love them wholeheartedly with all the compassion I can muster, then I let them go and dive right into the next.  I am a seeker.  Time here is brief.  There is so much to see, so many people to meet, so many experiences to be had!

Although this lifestyle can be glorious and thrilling, there is one question I am repeatedly confronted with.  How do I find commitment in my life?

While living at Kripalu for a month, I had one of my greatest awakenings.  I discovered my home.  I've struggled with defining that for years, constantly looking outside of myself.  Finally, after weeks of early morning Sadhana and hours upon hours of examining human nature, I found my home.

Home isn't where the heart is.  My heart is where my home is.  Yoga has given me the space to explore, discover and create my authentic-self.  Because of the practice and peace Yoga provides, I am able to be at home every day.

Seek your home within yourself and you will strengthen your commitment to your own life, and therefore the commitments you have made outside of yourself.  No matter your situation, the people you are around, the hardships you bare, the place you are currently living, find yourself - be in your home.  Things change, at times quite drastically in just a few moments; if you can stay committed to yourself no matter what the change, life will open the door to you and set you free.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Our Anxious Nation

"[Anxiety] sufferers gather in places like New York, where relentlessness and impatience are the highest values, and in industries built on unrelenting deadlines and tightrope deals.  Urban achievers retain a superstitious belief in the magical powers of their worry." -- Listening to Xanax by Lisa Miller, New York Magazine.

  Apparently the 90's Prozac Nation has become the 20k Xanax Nation.  We are no longer stressed and distraught by depression, instead we are plagued with anxiety.  We think, "What if I lose my job?"  "What's next?"  "Why can't I stop obsessing about the same things?"  "When will my worries cease so I feel like I'm finally living again?"  From time to time we will all ponder these sorts of questions, but most of the time it's normal!  Worries don't need to be cured, they need a voice.  Worrying is part of living a full life.  Our nation promotes the idea that numbness is better than feeling.  How can we progress within our own lives if we regularly change our brain chemistry with drugs?
  I'm first to admit that I often struggle with all sorts of anxiety.  It has kept me awake at night; it has stopped me from experiencing and enjoying the people right in front of me; it has contributed to feelings of sadness, anger, exhaustion, etc.  Sure, Xanax stops this sort of daily anxiety, but it also diminishes the ability to care about anything.  How can we learn from our mistakes if we don't care?  How is escaping reality real?  How is that a "cure" for our worries and upsets in the long run?  Taking a drug does not help us better explore who we are.  Consider your life's feelings precious.

  Try Yoga.  Be guided into the moment.  Practice mindfulness.  Become aware of your feelings, breathe into them and let them be a part of who you are at this moment.  There is nothing wrong with you.  Your feelings are valid, nevermind the fact that they can be very helpful to you.

  Notice the position you are sitting in and how it makes you feel.  Notice the distractions around you.  Is your phone occupying your time?  Is the tv on even though you're not watching it?  Could you use a nap?  Are you feeling anxiety right now?  Do something about it.  Could you call someone and apologize, perhaps forgive yourself, set up a schedule to organize your busy day ahead, change your diet, or maybe just breathe more deeply?  Take a moment, turn everything off, shut the door, press play on the link below, close your eyes and listen (you don't need to watch it), then sit in silence for at least one full minute afterward.


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  Welcome back.  How long did one minute feel to you?  Like an eternity or like a millisecond?  Next time, try to increase the time of silence to five minutes, then ten or even fifteen.  Notice how is alters your state of mind.  Start small and work your way up.

  My recommendation to a world addicted to Xanax is simple: drop the drug; it's addictive and can be harmful to yourself and the people around you.  Figure out what isn't serving you in your life.  Rid yourself of harmful anxiety by practicing mindful Yoga and Meditation.  Allow yourself the space to live in the moment.  Let go of fear about the future and disappointment from the past; be here now and love yourself.  Look how far you have come.

Yoga Style Recommendations:  Try Kripalu Yoga.  It's offered all over the country.  It is slow paced, focused on breath and encourages conscious movement.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Finding Balance in NYC

A Bird's Eye View -- Eagle Pose at The High Line

Observing Patience in an Impatient World


We humans often look for themes that resonate through our lives and I seem to have finally opened to one that has followed me for decades.  Perhaps it is something that people in their late twenties/early thirties encounter more so than any other time of our lives, or perhaps it is because I am living in the thick of it in NYC.

The theme is:

PATIENCE.  The willingness to persist.

My sister.
Practicing patience has had an enormous influence in my life since I was 2 years old, when my younger sister was born.  She is special needs.  This has greatly affected every decision I (and my family) have ever made.  Her presence in my life introduced me to both the gift and struggle patience presents me.

I recognize I have misunderstood patience for years.  I thought being patient meant bearing hardship.  As I stood by "patiently" waiting for my life to take off, I managed to lose my voice; I lost my ability to communicate and find what I truly wanted.  I believed my sister's needs were more important than mine.  It's taken me years to break that barrier.

In the midst of studying acting, I discovered this loss; actor's don't have to have their own voices heard, rather a character's and/or playwright's instead.  Compulsively, I left this self-evaluative study to take a flying leap into NYC where I began to practice Yoga fervently.  I wanted to find myself all at once and become me immediately!  I stepped away from the world of patience and began to run directly into my own vulnerability, searching for my authentic self as quickly as possible.  Total irony, right?

This did not work.  In fact I ended up moving in the opposite direction.  I lost any sense of patience and, with it, my sense of purpose.

As I continued to move, Yoga became a mainstay in my life.  Yoga had always allowed space for me to find a connection to myself, slowly but surely.

Today, months after stepping away from a deeply committed long-distance relationship that was engulfed in my own convoluted version of patience, where I carelessly sacrificed my own voice for his needs (finding myself back at ground-zero), I have had to regain my confidence and my voice all over again.

Somehow this lesson continues to present itself to me and I have finally begun to appreciate what is true patience (the willingness to persist) for the value it provides my life.

Here in NYC, I find people talk with me about patience on a daily basis.  Living in the city, patience is an important tool to cultivate in order to move through life with a little more ease and grace.  There is so much to do and so little time and space to sit with ourselves.  How do we open to patience when we can contact whomever we like via cell phone in text, facebook, email, twitter, linkedin, google+, etc in just a moment?  And why do we never call one another anymore?  Are we afraid of hearing our own and each others voices and vulnerabilities?  Have we lost patience amongst our own friends and loved ones?  Relationships these days seem so disconnected.

Finally, how do we cope with what we have lost and with what we have yet to receive?

Open to Vulnerability
The practice of patience is the practice of living in the moment.  Practice with intention.  Silence the "monkey mind," live here and now.  If we can open our hearts and minds to vulnerability we will find our authentic selves.  Silencing the need for hope and sitting with the understanding that this is what is, right now, that there is no other moment but this one, we will cultivate the practice of patience.  We will let go of the artificial and unreal.  We will live fully in our bodies.  We will speak from a genuine place with integrity and peace.

What is your theme?  Have you given yourself the space to open to it and learn from it?

Sunday, March 18, 2012

The Reward of Teaching

Today was one of the sweetest days I have had the pleasure of experiencing.  Not only did it feel like the first day of spring on sunny Cape Cod, but my Yoga class was eagerly received by my students.

I taught my final class in Dennis, MA at The Yoga Center of Cape Cod.  After 15 months of teaching at the same studio, trying out all sorts of Yoga classes and times, today's 11am Advanced Beginner's class was full.  What a treat!  The love people have shown me on Cape Cod has been so generous, touching, raw and real.  There is nothing like teaching; it is my true expression of love.  Yoga offers me the ability to reach out to people's authentic-being which is an entirely satisfying reward.  There is a true art to it and I am so fortunate to experience this every week of my life.

Nothing says "I love you" like showing up.

Springtime on Cape Cod
I will be back myself, showing up as often as I can.  Stay tuned for more workshops.  

To my students, any specific requests?

Friday, March 9, 2012

Let's Try Breathing

How often are you aware of your breath?

In NYC I rarely breathe deeply.  Perhaps because the air is slowly filling my lungs with dis-ease or perhaps because so much is thrown at me in a matter of minutes, there is so much to take in, I'd almost rather not.  Probably a little (or a lot) of both.  I often don't realize it until I come home to Cape Cod when I wake up laughing or in tears.  Aha!  I am finally breathing again!

The breath is an enormous tool humans have 24/7 access to that is often forgotten or misused.  It feeds our life-force, creates our vitality and has the power to connect us to significant, allusive and substantial moments that would otherwise pass us by.

Take a moment:


Without altering your breath, where do you feel it move your body?  Place a hand on your chest.  Do you feel the breath there?  Place your hand on your belly.  Do you feel the breath more so there? Breathing in and out through your nose, take in a very big breath (never-mind the smells wafting in the air from your roommates cooking), how does that feel?  Now take the next several moments to focus on your breath, allowing your thoughts to settle in the expansion of the body as you inhale and the release of tension as you exhale.  Close your eyes.  Breathe deeply.

How do you feel?  Did you notice anything come up for you?  Something emotional?  Something physical?  Something spiritual?  Some days I feel emotion tumbling out through my breath.  I barely even realize I am holding on to anything and, suddenly, there it is.  There is always something there.  We just have to give it space, live in it and then let it go.  Within yourself, what is there to explore?  Allow it to be.  Listen to your breath.

There is a wonderful methodology at Kripalu, BRFWA: Breath, Relax, Feel, Watch, Allow.  This is a practical, helpful tool you can apply to your every day living, starting with the breath.  As an experiment for yourself, take out a pen and paper (or your iphone/smartphone) and write down BRFWA.  Carry it with you for the next several days to remember the exact words and try it out during different moments of your day.  Then please come back to my blog and share your experiences with us.  I love to hear about your life and your Yoga.  Remember, your words of wisdom may help a fellow reader through their own experiences.

How often do you truly allow yourself to breathe?

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Pausing in NYC

Life's Craziness
Since moving to NYC, I find being still is an impossibility... or is it?  There is so much to be done!  There is rarely a night off in sight.  The sounds are piercing to the ears.  The bright lights are distressing to the eyes.  How do we purge the desire to take another step and just be still?  Let it all go and come home to ourselves?!  In a city that never sleeps, it's entirely possible that there really is no such thing for most of us... ever.  How do we find true silence in ourselves when the stimulation never ceases?  How can we rest, but keep moving at the same time?
The human body does not function best when it is on sensory overload.  There has to be a break somewhere before we, ourselves, break.  Visiting the natural world on a daily basis can answer that calling in one deep-breath moment, but, let's be honest, how often are we able to get out of the city?  Once a week?  Once a month?  Once a year?
Resting in Peace
The next best thing is (of course) joining a Yoga class!  A Yoga class provides a sacred space, peace, time to be in your body, awareness, freedom to express yourself, mindfulness, etc.  Most importantly it allows space to let go.  As humans, we hold on to so much emotional baggage; both in the city and out, we often never truly let go, because we don't have time to sit with ourselves and work through emotional and physical blockage.  A Yoga class provides this space and time.  It is sacred time reserved for ourselves; sacred time to let everyone and everything else go; sacred time and space to just be.
In the midst of all this insanity, Yoga can be the best form of pausing or at least slowing down for literally every body.  Try it out.  You never know where it may bring you.  Perhaps you'll finally come home to yourself.