Shadow Yoga Workshop DAY 1

I was ecstatic when my acupunturist at Golden Monkey Healing in Sherman Oaks sent me an e-mail with details on his next Shadow Yoga Workshop. For 6 days I will be learning a new technique and going against everything I have learned in my 10 years of praciticing yoga ; )

Last night was my first night. I bumped into my friend Casey who brought along a couple of her acro-yoga friends so we did a little "flying" as they call it in the acro world before class started. This will be my next adventure in yoga : )

Description of Shadow Yoga

Developed by Natanaga Zhander, Shadow Yoga is a modern school of yoga that is rooted in classical hatha yoga. Emphasis is placed on four prelude forms which prepare the student for the classical asanas. Reflecting common principles found in yoga, Indian cultural dance, martial arts, and the Ayurvedic and Siddha systems on medicine, the Shadow forms combine leg work and skillful arm movements with deep breath work to strengthen and free the energy of the periphery channels. This energy can then feed into and increases the central life force.

With curvy lines we floated into one pose to the next, we just got started so we have learned the warm-up sequence which lasts about 10mins, a few asanas and sun salutes. Tomorrow we will be adding on to our sequence and learning more asanas. It's not like your traditional yoga where you keep a straight back in all your poses, rounding of the back in some poses is encouraged. It also involves deep breathing without the sound of the ujayii breath. It was such a beautiful class, of course I don't have the smooth lines yet and I tend to fall in certain poses as I'm not used to this type of yoga.

I have attached a video to give you an idea of what we are working on..

If interested in the next workshop you can contact Matt at Golden Monkey Healing. I believe the next one starts in January but he will be able to give you more details.

New Lady J Yoga DEMO REEL Posted

I have just posted my first demo-reel for Lady J Yoga on YouTube. Check out my website http://www.ladyjyoga.com/ for a link or directly at www.youtube.com/ladyjyoga

Subsribe to my channel and enjoy more videos to come!

Hope everyone had a blissful Thanksgiving.

Black Dog Yoga

Yesterday I taught my last donation class at Black Dog Yoga. It was such a beautiful class filled with students who were really looking for a challenge and each one loved it in their own different way. I was surprised at how big the class was considering every street in LA is flooding at the moment, and the traffic is hairy scary because of how much rain is coming down. I love the LA rains, it means SNOW IN THE MOUNTAINS for snowboarding!
I've always enjoyed teaching at Black Dog as it was my "home" studio. This is where I got my certification and it always so warming and comforting when you enter. After 7 months of teaching there, I have had to make way for the new teacher training graduates to come in and teach. Excited for them.
See below photos from today's class. I currently don't have another class scheduled at the moment but I am working on a DVD as well as putting together a yoga retreat for 2012 so my schedule is plenty busy with that. But continue to follow me on my blog, twitter @ladyjyoga. facebook.com/ladyjyoga and ladyjyoga.com where I will update you on what's next!

Yoga Etiquette

Have you ever gone to a class, placed your mat down on the floor, only to have someone from the other side of the room walk all over it to get to the other side of the room? Annoyyyyinggggg and just plain rude, excuse me, I place my face where your stinky foot just landed. Just what are the etiquettes upon entering and leaving a yoga class that people should know about.

Etiquette is Respect. Respect your fellow Yogis.

• Please arrive at least 5-10min early to allow yourself to settle into your spot and so the instructor can start on time
• Please take your shoes off and leave them outside the room
• Please turn OFF your cell-phone before entering, and not just silent or vibrate you never know when there will be a glitch in your phone and it'll ring while it's suppose to be silent and YES we can still here that humming vibrate of your phone, especially during savasana.
• Please do not wear perfume to class, some people have sensitive noses or are allergic and the last thing you want to smell when you're practicing is musty flower perfume
• Please do not walk all over others mats, we don't know what's going on with your feet and that funky odor..keep it to yourself
• Please do not conversate with your friend during class, we know it's fun to connect and catch up on the gossip but yoga class is the wrong place to do so...maybe meet at a coffee shop next time instead
• Please do not leave the practice early, especially during savasana (unless it's an emergency)
• If you borrowed props please place them back where you got them from and in a neat manner
• If you dripped sweat all over the floor around your mat, please use your towel to wipe this area, there may be another class following yours and it's not fun to place your mat in someones sweat or step in it...gross!

Thank you for respecting your fellow yogis!!!

NAMASTE. --the light in me bows to the light in you.

Motivational Monday

Sometimes it's hard to start your days on a high note only to realize it's already late afternoon and you're still feeling like you're on that low note. I have compiled some of my favorite quotes that put a smile on my face. Read these in the morning and continue to think about them throughout the day, maybe asking yourself "what does that mean?" Something to ponder and distract your mind for a moment away from your every day stresses.

Read on and SMILE : )


When you make friends with the present moment, you feel at home no matter where you are. When you don't feel at home in the Now, no matter where you go, you will cary unease with you.

Whatever you accept completely will take you to peace, including the acceptance that you cannot accept, that you are in resistance.

--Eckhart Tolle

Every breath can be a practice. With the inhalation, imagine drawing in pure, cleansing, relaxing energies. And with each exhalation, imagine expelling all obstacles, stress, and negative emotions. This is not something that requires a particular place in which to sit. It can be done when in the car on the way to work, waiting for a stop light, sitting in front of the computer, preparing a meal, cleaning the house, or walking.

--Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

You must learn to welcome consciously the most unexpected events of life, to be entirely transparent in front of them, without any motive, either right or wrong. At that moment avoid all judgement, for you do not know what law is in operation.

--Lizelle Reymond

Yoga teaches that beauty is everywhere if one can learn to see it, and that complete concentration upon a beautiful thought, scene or object will result in relaxation of the mind and achievement of tranquility.

--Nancy Phelan and Michael Volin

This path doesn't always hug the ridge tops; it often falls into deep canyons, sometimes moves along the waterways, across the valleys, deserts, and the tall peaks of your inner self. Its direction may not always seem clear as you venture into the wilderness within.

--Charles Breaux





Lululemon

This morning I had the pleasure of teaching at Lululemon Santa Monica! What a great way to start out your day with a FREE class a couple blocks from the beach. Smell the ocean air before you enter and again as soon as you leave, just that alone calms the senses and brings your mind more present.

Every Sunday morning at 9:30am Lululemon hosts a free class with phenomenal teachers around the Santa Monica area, I was blessed to be included in that category and called in to teach. Considering it was the day after "Halloween" I started out slow to allow everyone's bodies to wake up and then I let the detox begin! : ) We had a nice strong mixed flow which included arm balances and inversions if you were advance enough for those options, either way every one worked up a sweat and ended the practice with a smile.

My love is like my personal assistant/agent. He was there from start to finish taking the class as well as pausing here and there to snap a few photos, below are a few photos that he was able to take for me.

Thank you Lululemon Santa Monica and to all my beautiful students who make teaching such a joy, I look forward to teaching there again!

Meditation Mondays

Love All Equally Meditation

Sitting comfortably, on the floor cross legged or on a chair with feet flat on the ground. Rest your hands palm down on your knees and connect the thumb and the index finger.

Take a look around the room and take a mental photo of everyone in the room, where they are sat, etc.

Close your eyes and take three consecutive deep breaths.
Breathe in deep, breathe out long
Breathe in deep, breathe out long
Breathe in deep, breathe out long
Return to breathing normally

Be aware of the breath coming in and the breath coming out. Feel the air coming in through your nostrils and going out.

If thoughts arise, don't fight them, just observe them as if they where distant clouds, and they will eventually fly by. Just focus on your breath, for 5-10 minutes

Now, recall that mental image of the room. Visualize peoples faces.
Now bring to mind a person whom you love intensly, like, your mum, you, girl/boy friend, Husband/wife.

Think of how warm this person makes you feel, their kindness and their generosity.

Imagine that everybody's face in the room, transforms into the face of your loved one.

The room is filled by loved ones, imagine how nice the world would be if everyone was this nice, this loving, this kind.

Just, focus on your breath and sit in the company of your loved ones.for a while.

Realise that everyone is in fact capable of such love and kindness, for we are all equal, we are all made of the same vibrating energy, that is the fabric of the universe.

You become aware that you can feel love towards anyone in the same way as you love your mum, dad, etc, for they are the same.

Sit observing your breath come in, and go out

When you are ready you may open your eyes, and sit in quiet contemplation.