The Ways We Learn Yoga

There are usually three different ways a new student learns yoga: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. Each student is going to learn yoga in a different and unique ratio of these three areas. Heck, they might even call memory recall and dreaming as another form of visual learning because that is what I remember during my early days as a student.

The first time I participated in a yoga class was through a community college course in the beginning of 2009. I had never done yoga in a classroom setting and it will always be an exhilarating memory as it helped me stay grounded when teaching beginners yoga. During class I barely paid attention to what the teacher was saying.  Yeah, words were coming out of her mouth and she had a genuine smile on her face most of the time, which made me think she was saying kind stuff all the time but I honestly don’t even remember what her voice sounds like. (I do remember slightly that she was a petite, Asian woman with two boys for children, and that’s about it!) All I thought about was myself during the first few lessons. It was a shot to the ego. Having difficulties in being able to do a seated forward fold (paschimottanasana) brought me back to reality real quick. Our bodies are a reflection of our choices and mine over those years included late night energy drink binges with fast food in my diet almost every day. The yoga instructor flowed gracefully from pose to pose demonstrating a lot during the first two classes (we had an 8 week session format) and then moving and teaching around the room throughout the remaining sessions with less demo.

Now, I teach primarily beginners in yoga and am usually able to spot a completely new student to yoga. It’s even better when they introduce themselves to me, allowing me to give them some simple advice…the same advice I give to the intermediate and advanced students, “keep breathing and have fun”.  It’s really not that big of a deal if you don’t get the posture exactly like I’m showing you. In fact, I want you to explore with a variation of the pose until you feel comfortable going into the full blown full lotus posture. That being said, my demos (which usually include variations depending on what is going on for your body that day), are for those that are visual learners. They can be an idea of where you can possibly go in the asana. It’s not quite monkey see, monkey do.  Yoga is very forgiving, and you should be too, of your self and current abilities.

Next thing, practice practice practice. For those that are kinesthetic learners, I’m talking to you. If you continuously look around on how you should be doing the posture, instead just try it out. Experiment on and off the mat within a controlled range of motion for your body. What does this even mean? Go ahead and just practice a few postures (I suggest warming up your body first with more gentle postures) that you really want to take some time to get in to or make up your own sequence!

This next one, is really easy to do when you do one simple act, close your eyes. That works for me and hopefully it will work for you! Just close your eyes and listen to the teacher’s words. Heck, I say some preeettyyyy corny stuff sometimes just to see if people are listening…well that and it’s sort of part of my personality so they are hard to separate. But listening is somewhat of a dead skill it seems. Maybe all those jokes about “selective hearing” are true but I can tell you many times I’ve zoned in and out of listening to a teacher during class. Sometimes their audible cues come at just the right moment and an “A-HA!” moment occurs and kittens are dancing everywhere in my mind along with unicorns flying in the sky and I feel at one with the moon.

Yeah, listening is an important skill indeed. That being said, enjoy the process and the flow of the practice as it works through you and then you in return work through it. (I’ll tell you when you’re older)

So, what is the best way you’ve learned something?  Feel free to comment below. I’m curious to know what has worked for others. In return, I hope it can make me a better teacher to help translate what I know into something you can know and feel in your mind, body, and spirit while practicing yoga.

Namaste!
Shanti, Shanti.

Walk slowly with your emotions

There is an interesting book (amazon link to book) I’ve been reading about meditation and it’s effect on the mind and body. It’s a collaborative piece written by multiple experts in the fields of Psycholoy, Buddhism, and health professions, such as neurology. In the portion of the book that talks about meditation and emotion, it describes the process the human body, and mind, goes through when experiencing an emotion. Emotion is a fast response and usually subside. When we say we’ve been “feeling bad all day” what we’re doing is revisiting the same emotion, over, and over. We think the whole day has been “bad” when we really are just thinking about the same thing that gave us that emotion, calling for the response again, and again.

What I liked about this portion of the book was the scientific approach to understanding emotion and its relation with meditation. In this section, written by Erika Rosenberg, PhD, it talks about the observational skills of meditating that are similar to the observational process of the scientific method. Once more, it also also mentions how emotion is not something you can stop.

The point of meditation is not to eliminate emotions. It is to learn how to accommodate them skillfully and with compassion for oneself and others.” (Rosenberg, p.70)

This brings me back to the title of this blog post, Walk slowly with your emotions.

An emotional response occurs almost immediately following the event that triggers the response. It can be a powerful tool to aid in escape, recovery, temporary gains in strength, stress, and other effects on the mind and body. Before you let your emotions run away, instead try walking with them. Let them go, it’s okay. And as you continue to walk slowly with the emotions, you can welcome them and say goodbye on your terms, instead of running a race the you will never win.

Here are some things I do to help me reel in any runaway emotions:

When I feel angry
If I allow this emotion to persist, my teeth will grind, my jaw becomes tense, the shoulders arch up towards my ears and I feel heat all over my body. The heart rate increases and I start to have shallow breathe. Sometimes this does help me focus on whatever made me angry to solve the problem, which is a productive outcome of the process. However, if I’m still steaming over the subject or event I do the following: close my eyes, place my hands together, and take deep long breaths. My eyes closed, it allows me to feel the tension more-so in my body and I try to visualize the release of everything that feels tight. The deep breathing helps relieve all that tension within the body and then calms down the mind. Having my hands together gives me a feeling of compassion for myself and others, I am not longer clenching my fists or jaws.

When I feel anxious or nervous
Sometimes this is a good reaction to the feeling. You’re about to embark on a great journey. Of COURSE you’re going to feel nervous or anxious about the trip. My eyes may dart around, my breathing becomes quick and short, and my hands feel clammy. The feeling to disappear from public view starts to creep in. What I do: LAUGH! Reminding myself not to things “so seriously” and see them as events on a timeline versus events on their own. Everything is connected, in one way or another. So my anxiety is connected to my self-esteem. When I begin to laugh I remind myself of the strong person I am and how much stronger I want to become. It gives me ease to relax knowing that small mantra I’ve held close to my heart: today I’m stronger than yesterday.

When I feel sad
We’ve all had this feeling. Like the color we see today is not as bright as it usually is to us. The faces of others look like twisted masks covering the human flesh. When I’m sad, it’s easy to see on my face with my gaze low, shoulders rounded, and blank stare. Sometimes I have emotion about emotion. I get angry that I’m sad! I tell myself, “what do you have to be sad about?! There are others that have it worse off than you.” What do I do to get out of this loop? I use to EAT! That’s how I got over 200 lbs in my early twenties. I dealt with emotions as cover-up by food choice. Now, I MOVE MY BODY. When your mind wants you slow down and lament over the same emotion, again and again, movement helps your thought train move alone. Largely, I do yoga, but if I need something more up-tempo, I dance, by myself.

So there you go. Emotions come, Emotions go! (just like money, but that’s another topic) This is ONE of the MANY reasons I practice and teach yoga. It has helped me slow down and move through emotions, surpass challenges, and question myself. Yoga has given me the opportunity to connect with so many people in a way I thought never imaginable. When I first started yoga, I would laugh at the “yoga can transform you!” and other sayings. Now I find myself saying those same exact words. All you have to do is be open to change, and it will come. Follow your heart.

Again, if you’re interested in reading the book about meditation that I mentioned earlier, check it out on amazon:

 

Hey readers! If you have any other good books or articles to read, please leave them in the comments below! Also, feel free to share this post with others.

AcroYoga & Partner Yoga – The Beginning

The video shown below is when I just started practicing AcroYoga with one of my training partners, and co-worker, Nick. We started in March of 2014 and practiced for a few hours a week for 3-4 weeks straight before recording this in April 2014. This was our third time practicing the routine in full sequence without any spills. Partner Yoga is an act that takes two. We’ve since progressed to other sequences and started making up our own movements. I’m very grateful for the patience my partner shows me, along with his jokes to help me relax (yes, I’m human and need help relaxing sometimes too!). Before Nick, I had tried doing AcroYoga with others but we just didn’t mesh or the schedules conflicted. I’d like to also mention that this would not be possible without the initial guidance of Jason Coleman, an accomplished Acro Yogi that was featured in USA Today [article].

Looking forward to updating everyone on the progress once I get more video coverage!

My Immersion into Pilates

What I Learned about Classical Pilates through the PPS Teacher Training Program of Lifetime Academy in Reston, Virginia

Earlier this year, I decided to take a leap of faith into learning a different type of movement system: Pilates. Peak Pilates Level 1 to be precise. As a yoga teacher in Maryland, I would constantly have employers and clients ask me “Do you teach Pilates too?” when I told them I taught yoga. I’ll admit, it really annoyed me at first. In my mind, yoga was the total package to me.

Hello, World.

I’m a person full of energy to move. You are too. We can all move. There may be limitations or blockages through our physical or mental state, but movement is within us all. Even if it’s just on a cellular level. So what is this blog about? It’s about choosing to live in a world of movement for your body, for your mind. If you sit for extended periods of a time, this is the blog for you. If you’re always moving, this is the blog for you. If you’re a good mix in between, this is the blog for you.

Basically, this blog is for anyone interested in learning or expanding on their current body and energy flow. I’ll post stuff about the activities I’m familiar with: yoga, rock climbing, brazilian jiu jitsu, running, weight lifting and any other activities/trainings I pick up (hello, pilates!).

If you want to know a little bit about me, I’m currently a yoga teacher in Maryland. You can find me at Jen Allen Yoga or on Facebook: Jen Allen Yoga I also practice (and teach the yoga there!) brazilian jiu jitsu (bjj) at Wrightson in Towson. Before I became a yoga teacher, I was a long time desk junkie. I worked in offices doing support for IT, accounting and administration. I sat for A LONG TIME PER DAY without breaks. I didn’t realize I was ruining my body. At one point, I ended up over 200 lbs. We’ll save this for a later date.

 

For now, I welcome you to my first post of this blog!