Yoga Ruins Your Life (Video)

I fell across this video on my Tumblr feed and I just had to share it. Everything he says in this video I just keep nodding and goes "YES! That, exactly!" Yoga ruins your life in so many ways and it's fantastic.

Yoga Ruins Your LIfe from Yoga Workshop on Vimeo.

Waldo Goes to India

via @SaraghAdams

Awaken with Yoga

via Curly Fishtree

Wisdom from Signs

via MyYogaOn

Wisdom on a sign in front of a chiropractor's office:

Pain is not from an ibuprofen deficiency.

via InvertedMisanthrope

Wednesday Inspiration

A lot of people get the joy kinda sucked out of them by Wednesday, so I just wanted to choose some inspiring yoga photos today. Get outside, do your practice, and focus on loving every second of it.

Be Bold and Expressive, Laugh until you fall out of a pose, and make No Apologies.

via FuckYeahYoga

via LightWeight

via YogiMoni

via elleodian

Yoga Every Damn Day Challenge

A couple years ago I offered up the 30 Day Yoga Challenge. Well, a couple of it's videos are missing, and it's been a while - so here's a new fun current challenge being offered up by someone else.

The 2013 Yoga Challenge : Yoga Every Damn Day

Click through for Rules/Details and to Join on the the ChallengeLoop page.

by 1Shot Photography - via Tumblr

From the Description:
The #yogaeverydamnday challenge has been ongoing since January 1, and it's open to all. Every month we have had a new twist (to bring gratitude into our daily lives, to meditate etc) but there will not be a twist this month. I want us all to go back to what's at the core of any yoga practice: to practice every single day. I want you to find the joy of living your yoga, on and off the mat, and to remember that yoga is not a pose but a practice! This does not mean you have to take a full sweaty 90-minute class every day (feel free if you like!), but that you incorporate yoga into your life somehow, every single day of this month.

This is just an excerpt, so head on over there to learn how to join and share your practice progress.

Last I checked there were just shy of 5,000 participants!
There are even prizes - Yoga Every Damn Day tanks from yours truly (creator Rachel Brathen) and @seasonfive

via Yogaholics

Why We Breathe - A Yoga Documentary

This documentary came out a few months ago, but I just got around to watching it this week. This is the full length documentary, not just a trailer, that's been made available for free. You can click through to Vimeo to leave a "Tip" if you feel moved to contribute.

Grab a cup of tea and settle in for some insightful interviews after a beautiful calming opening sequence. Bonus - a couple of cutie pup cameos.

Why We Breathe - A Yoga Documentary from BackToAwake on Vimeo.

Your First Class Can Be Rough

via Fit Jilly

What can Yoga do for You?

via Rise of the Yogi
designed by Danielle Joseph

Weekend Flow (Video)

This video shows the quiet grace and ease that yoga is all about.

Weekend Flow from KC and Sara on Vimeo.

Affirmats are Pretty and I Want One

Have you seen these yoga mats? I think they're awesome. I really really want one. I do have a growing hole in my prAna revolution mat, so I am coming up on mat replacement time anyway. I just might go for it because Affirmats are just so pretty and happy. They're not as wide as my current mat, so that would take some adjustment, but I think it's worth a shot.

"Natural eco-pvc blended with biodegradable jute fiber to create 
an amazing non-slip (really) surface."

Size: (5MM) 68 x 24 

Check them out Here - for Affirmats Yoga Mats ($64) and Yoga/Sports Towels ($32).

This is not a sponsored post. Photos via Affirmats. 

Yoga, Meet Painting

I've mentioned before that I like to keep my yoga and my artwork separate, but earlier this month I painted a large picture that is definitely drooling yoga all over the place. Figured I'd share it here for those of you that don't follow me on Twitter. I don't actually like this painting, but I try to keep this Andy Warhol quote in mind when I create.

Titled April Flowers. Acrylics on Canvas. It's me - in king pigeon pose (eka pada rajakapotasana) with some visible internal anatomy and flowers for hair. There's some energetic buzz going on there near the heart. The whole thing is actually a little larger than life sized.

Prints available at Saatchi Online

Good Alignment is Good Therapeutics

It's an unfortunate fact of having a body - injury happens. I'm pretty accident prone, so I'm quite familiar with this fact by now. I always seem to hurt myself doing something mundane instead of something that obviously could hurt me. I hurt myself doing things like getting up off the floor, reading a book, or just plain existing. The last 2 weeks I've been healing up a mild knee sprain and it's coming along great, but I'm just now getting around to adding some really basic yoga back into the mix.

As I introduce sun salutations back into my days (and lots of lunges) I just have to remind myself that:

Good Alignment is Good Therapeutics

As long as I watch my alignment closely I can probably do almost anything and it will assist healing. By anything I don't mean playing soccer, but I do mean things like squats, lunges, inversions, backbends, etc. Mostly stationary and slow careful movements for a while. It's just another reminder to bring awareness to everything I do and practice mindfulness.

via http://fuckyeahyoga.tumblr.com/post/46435892141

Find Your Yoga Circle

This might be the best yoga infographic I've seen this year. Do you find this accurate for your practice? Maybe you're looking for something new to try. Maybe this collection of popular yoga circles will help you find your next big thing.

Meditation for Spring

Tiffany Cruikshank and Lulu via Awakened Lotus

Seek out a tree and let it teach you stillness. - Eckhart Tolle

Occasionally I like to share my Grounding Tree Meditation, and this quote reminded me that today would be perfect. This meditation is great for beginners that have trouble sitting for extended periods and those with a lot of trouble controlling their monkey mind.

Lotus via Yoga, Water, Sun, Light 

Challenge Yourself to Create Balance

What have you been avoiding because it looks difficult or pulls up emotional funk? Is there something you've been ignoring that you could be working towards?

People tend to get all too cozy in their comfort zone. They don't focus on their weaknesses very often (if ever) - which allows them to get weaker and weaker. In the meantime your strengths get stronger and stronger. This creates an ever-expanding gap in your abilities. Sounds like a huge imbalance. The more advanced your yoga practice gets the more your imbalances can come back to haunt you. The smallest weak spot can completely throw off a pose and lead to injury. Easily avoidable if you just do the work - all the work, all the time.

via FuckYeahAshtangaYoga

Take a good look at your practice. Is there an entire direction you aren't moving? Is there a category of poses you avoid? Is there a tweaky chronic pain that needs to be addressed?

Don't think that being a beginner or an intermediate practitioner excuses you from this. That's exactly when you need to be creating good habits of introspection and filling in the gaps.

Challenge yourself by looking into those spaces before you have the Grand Canyon of imbalances staring you in the face.

via Yoga, Water, Sun, Light

Core of the Yoga Sutras - Book Review

B.K.S. Iyengar's Core of the Yoga Sutras: The Definitive Guide to the Philosophy of Yoga is actually a pretty short book at less than 200 pages of actual reading material. Much of the bulk is comprised of a handy dandy Glossary and Appendix. There's also a foreward, preface, and prologue before the introduction. I thoroughly appreciate all the organization that went into this thing. Plus it's pretty in pink and orange. I'm only a little sorry for saying that - because it's true.

This book is meant for everyone. Including newbies and people that have never done any study of yoga.

Iyengar's 80+ years of yoga experience prove helpful to the rest of us in learning what the sutras are saying - providing a more modern accessible explanation. It even has a few charts and tables throughout for the more visual learners.

Don't let the small amount of God-talk in the preface fool you. This book is not a religious text. It took me forever to read because I'm terrible about reading philosophy or anything that isn't chick-lit really. Don't let my reading-flaws color your perception of this book.

I think most yogis that are just barely getting started should probably not read this book just yet. They'll likely get bogged down by the amount of sanskrit tossed about. Flipping back to the glossary every few sentences can make it feel like a more difficult read than it really is; but the glossary is a huge help. Yogis that are starting to get serious about the practice (beyond asana practice) should totally buy this book. Sit down with your tea, keep one finger on the glossary - and get ready to do some learning. Smart teachers will add this to their library.

Especially for being well-organized - I certainly recommend this book.

Get on Your Mat

All photos are from Pinterest and are not mine.

The Year so Far

It's been an interesting year so far. I've been working on a lot of things. Some yoga, some art, some reading, had a birthday, etc.

Last month I won the book Hell Bent from Just here. Just now. and it took me longer than I would've liked to finish reading it. This isn't a review post so I won't really go into it, but it's definitely a worthy read.

I do have a full book review coming up soon for B.K.S. Iyengar's new book Core of the Yoga Sutras which I'm reading now. I'm not a fast/committed reader so bear with me. I can be easily distracted, but I promise it's coming.

I started a deviantART page with some of my artwork on it. A lot of my stuff is also quite large in real life - like 4 feet tall 4 feet wide. I'm running out of room to keep them all piled up everywhere. Creating can be a good outlet and even meditative. If you're not involved in anything creative I suggest you give it a shot. It's good for your health.

Sometimes You Suck

Sometimes yoga is all about aiming for perfect alignment and holding a solid pose for ages. Other times you just want to get out of your head and into the flow. Sometimes you need to expand your horizons and try a new pose.

When you're in the flow - channel the breath and let go of expectations of perfection. If your practice has been slipping - your poses may not be as easy or pretty as they once were. When you're trying something new you have to get comfortable with the idea that you'll probably suck at it. You might fall on your face, your ass, and your ego. Even poses you've done a thousand times can surprise you on a bad day. Some days you will suck. And that's okay.

For teachers - sometimes your students will not be any good. Maybe they're doing their best but they're new; maybe your class is too fast-paced to get all the kinks worked out in each pose. These things can be fine. There's a place for the single beat pose class and the beginner's flail. Take care of your students, help them out, keep them safe but as one of my teacher trainers told us - Sometimes you just have to let them suck.