learning, humbly
By heather | February 26, 2010
(Hey where has everyone been this week? My feed reader doth NOT runneth over like it usually does.)
This weekend is my next to last weekend of teacher training and so far I LOVE IT. Initially my brain fought with my body during every single practice, because it was HARD. And DIFFERENT than what I am used to practicing – teachers at this studio hold poses until your legs shake and although my butt hurts constantly it is in a good way. I have discovered things about my practice and my body that never occurred to me – for example maybe the reason my lower lumbar spine is always slipping and sliding out of place is because I have a ridiculous imbalance of strength between my right and left sides.
I am learning from an E-RYT 500 who trained with Bikram Choudury and with B.K.S. Iyengar…in person. In the yoga world, that’s like having Slash and the Van Halen guy teach you how to play guitar. The professor teaching us yoga philosophy has a PhD from Harvard and lectures at the Smithsonian and has an amazing way of making all this stuff seem exciting and accessible. We’ve also spent a significant amount of time discussing the concept of Atman, and I am delighted to learn that Finding Atman as a concept still makes perfect sense. (The blog name anyway, maybe not so much the posts.)
The concepts of divine love and uniting our spiritual self have sparked an interest and started to fill a void and I find myself more patient, and able to just…sit…without being antsy, or looking for something to do, or constantly checking email every 5 minutes. I feel incredibly fortunate to have stumbled on a yoga teacher training of this caliber, and it truly was the right time for me to do it, furthering my belief that things happen when they are supposed to happen.
Initially I was dreading the drive to and from the studio – it’s about 50 minutes from my house. Thanks to books on CD, the drive time has become a sort of meditative practice in and of itself. The first book I listened to was Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. I’ve listened to and love all his books -they have the kind of logic and examples and pace that make me sad when I get to the last CD – but this one was probably my favorite so far.
The second book I got was The Five People You Meet in Heaven, by Mitch Albom. Depending on my mood, this book was either heart-warming or unbearably saccharine. Mostly it was the latter, but the concept is interesting and there is a quote in there about children that will resonate with me forever – “All children are damaged by their handlers – some get fingerprints, some get cracked, and some get shattered.” (That isn’t a word for word because I am disinclined to go look up and link to the exact quote.)
In my queue are The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan (I think the Omnivore’s Dilemma should be required reading for everyone who eats meat), and Super Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubner. Currently in my CD player is Raising Boys by Dr. James Dobson.
Now, about that last one. I read somewhere that it is good for us to listen to and read things that we disagree with – it keeps your brain sharp and engaged. I’ve always tried to follow that and indeed even seek out material that presents a differing viewpoint. That is the single reason that I was able to get through the introductory chapters of this book.
Having made it to Chapter 8, I’ve finally been able to stop gnawing on my knuckles/screaming/laughing out loud and can agree with some of what he’s saying. (SOME. Not all. Not even half.) I often feel like I have no idea what I’m doing with Alex which is why I picked it up in the first place, but the in-your-face approach, blatant disparagement of women in the workplace, and feminism as a dirty word, plus assertions with no hard facts or studies to back them up has been…ahem…hard to swallow. I think my buddy Malcolm G would disagree with Dr D., who thinks that boys are better at math because they are wired to be that way, since one of the examples in Outliers is a fascinating study of why Asian cultures are so much better at it than Western cultures. Anyway.
As part of the teacher training, I’ve also read four amazing books that have opened my eyes to the rest of the practice of yoga. One of the books talks about how to be a student – come to practice with a mind like an empty cup, because any knowledge the teacher gives a student with a half full cup will spill out and is lost. I have tried to make a concerted effort to approach every day of training and every book with that mindset, and not having to be right about anything has made a huge difference in my daily attitude. Humility, I think it’s called. It’s refreshing.
Topics: self improvement, yoga | 1 Comment »
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free spirit
By heather | February 18, 2010
I see dance lessons in our future, which I suppose will keep me from being a soccer mom with a minivan. I don’t know if I have enough competitive spirit to be one of those dance moms.
emmy’s happy feet from Heather on Vimeo.
Topics: EK | 2 Comments »
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overcome
By heather | February 18, 2010
I had a great post I was going to write about teacher training last weekend…how amazing the Sanskrit professor was and how much I enjoyed anatomy while bonding with my group and doing lots and lots of yoga. (I ended up solving the high maintenance problem by succumbing to my natural hair curl and using headbands, and it wasn’t even a big deal.)
Unfortunately, the kids came back from the in-laws with a sort of stomach flu thing, and have been home with me in various levels of sick the whole week. Today everything is back to normal but it’s already Thursday and by now I’ve lost some of the “I heart yoga and the world and everything in it” buzz, not to mention losing almost a week’s worth of actual non-yoga related work (you know, the stuff that pays my mortgage).
Tomorrow starts another weekend of training. Suffice to say, I am so happy to be doing this and have found things in common with everyone in my class. I may have lost some of the immediate high but definitely find myself more deeply in thought and more aware of every action…working at keeping my brain connected to my heart and keeping my ego (in the yogic sense) out of the way is teaching me so much about parenting and just…living.
Topics: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
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high maintenance
By heather | February 9, 2010
You know that friend you had in high school that took FOREVER to get ready? And as soon as she had access to a mirror, she was spraying her high bangs yet again and moving around single strands of hair to perfect the style?
I was that girl. Granted, I was not the worst of my friends but I still jostled for mirror space with the best of them.
When I was 8, I used to take my $1 allowance down to the drugstore on the corner and buy cheap .99 eyeliners and nail polishes. I coveted Dr. Scholls clogs and all the makeup that was out of my budget – the Cover Girl and Maybelline and Revlon. I can still picture the aisle of that store, I loved to just sit in the makeup aisle and drool over all the sparkly, shiny colors.
I still do that, except now I stare at the Sephora catalog and I covet higher end eyeshadow palettes from Urban Decay, liquid eyeliners from Boujois, airy foundations from Smashbox, lipsticks, lip balms, lip glosses – any brand thankyouverymuch. Skincare from philosophy and Bliss and Aveda; hair products from Bumble and Bumble – I love them ALL.
Unfortunately for me, the painstakingly developed step-by-step daily routine has become somewhat…over-developed. It is no surprise to anyone that knows me that I am most definitely the highest of high-maintenance. I require 5 products in the shower alone (shampoo, conditioner, 2 kinds of soap, and facewash) and that’s not counting the deep conditioning or shaving days. I step out of the shower and layer on face serum, face lotion, eye cream, body lotion, deodorant, tinted sunscreen, and two kinds of hair products. That’s before I get to makeup, hair dryer, velcro rollers, hairspray, and on and on.
If I’m being honest, I don’t particularly care about becoming lower maintenance or streamlining my routine. I love these girly things, and when there aren’t kids hanging off my legs I can go from bed to out the door in 35 minutes.
The problem is, it sure is a bitch when I have to get ready away from home. For one thing trying to remember all this stuff is next to impossible and I’m guaranteed to forget the critical basics, like deodorant or a bra, in my haste to remember three kinds of moisturizer. It’s also somewhat embarrassing to unpack, repack, and cart all this stuff around in the locker room or at a friend’s house.
This problem has manifested itself, along with all the other emotional and physical stuff that comes up, in my yoga teacher training. We practice a hot yoga class each morning, then have lecture or posture clinic the rest of the day. I have to shower after the class.
I can easily reduce the skincare stuff and not wear makeup, but I am not and have never been a wash-and-go-hair kind of girl. For my professional life, I have a shoulder length cut that requires…something. I can’t wear a hat because my hair is too short and my ears stick out. I could try a headband, or bandanna I guess. Or what about those buff things that Survivor contestants wear? Could I pull that off?
Suggestions are welcome. My hair thanks you.
Topics: self improvement, soliciting advice, vanity, yoga | 3 Comments »
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