Can yoga by donation really work?

Last week was an interesting and exciting week of events.
I had a chance to meet with a group of teachers and students in a new yoga collective called Seva Yoga. Seva is a Sanskrit word that means, service a work that is offered to the Divine. Seva yoga is innovative because it is a complete donation based studio in Austin that wants to showcase all styles of yoga. Part of the proceeds go to a charity designated by the teacher. Here is the link to watch the interview they gave to Yoga Sanga Seva Yoga interview

There was also the Rise Event in Austin. Rise organized for third year a week of activities where they included more than 150 sessions where entrepreneurs share their experience all around Austin to other entrepreneurs. It was amazing to be with this people full of expectations, hard work and enthusiasm to make their ideas work. I took classes in building, dance studios, art studios and conference rooms. Rise is a free event for the participants.

As for events this week you will find:

Austin: If you practice Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, David Williams will be in town. There will be a workshop on how to balance the solar and lunar centers and how to recharge with Kundalini.

Dallas: There will a free Kriya Yoga introduction, a restorative yoga workshop and how to learn adjustments to help and support your partner. Also a workshop on yogabhyasa (persistent practice)

Houston: Shiva shakti book club, Meditation workshop and a Journey for peace.

San Antonio: Continues with Kundalini foundation series and iRest meditation.

New Baunfels: How to approach safely arm balance poses

Don't miss the multimedia section, every other week we are giving away books, DVDs and at the end of March 2 itunes-downloads for a 45 min. practice! Just enroll in our e-mail list for free. Your information won't be sold or share with anyone else.

Check our Calendar of events, and see how alive and committed is the Yoga Community in Texas!

Share the journey and Namaste!

Rocio Morales

Photo courtesy of Julia Land. Golden-cheeked Warbler. Click on the picture to see more pictures.

Yoga Sanga March issue

Yoga Sanga March issue is out visit us at www.yogasanga.net. I have met wonderful people in the area and in the country so more interviews are on its way! We will continue to give you updates on how the Texas Yoga Association is consolidating to meet the requirements of the law in our state and be an unified voice for the Yoga community.

Please take a moment to read about decluttering your life and mind, how your legs can lenghten your spine in Mr. Boustany's unique way, we also have some reflections about how to practice asana and pranayama. This issue our Karma Award goes to Ruth Jansa for her efforts to bring yoga to people with disabilities, don't miss to learn about a great yogini who not only leads the free day of yoga in Dallas but is also helping Bellur (where BKS was born)her name is Michelle Mock; and much more!

Don't miss the multimedia section, every other week we are giving away books, DVDs and at the end of March 2 itunes-downloads for a 45 min. practice! Just enroll in our e-mail list for free. Your information won't be sold or share with anyone else.

Check our Calendar of events, and see how alive and committed is the Yoga Community in Texas!

Visit us at www.yogasanga.net

What is Karma anyways?

Karma is a concept that you hear frequently among conversations but usually misunderstood.
There is no doubt that in Yoga and other Easter traditions, the concept is pivotal in the understanding of how the world works and the effect that our actions have on it.

Even for some traditions like Jainism, their understanding of the world is intrinsic to their understanding of Karma. In the words of Dr. Christopher Chappel, Professor of Indic and comparative Theology "In Jainism, karma is the basic principle within an overarching psycho-cosmology, in which human moral actions form the basis of the transmigration of the soul (jiva)—constrained within the temporal world (samsara)—until one achieves liberation (moksa) from this cycle, by following a path of purification."

With more than 30 years of studying Yoga, Swami Dasa came to Texas to gives us a more practical, modern and down to Earth understanding of this concept.
In his lecture, Swami Enoch Dasa Giri explained to the audience that the most important concept to understand about Karma is that it is not a law of punishment or retribution, it is not "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" it is simply the law of cause and effect. We need to understand that our actions have repercussions and we are the solely responsible of those actions.
Nevertheless the way we respond to life has a deep root on how we have responded to the events in the past. Swami Dasa said, "It really doesn't matter if you believe in reincarnation or not; if you grasp that who you are now is the result of how you reacted yesterday to events an people, and though some of those actions were valid at some point in the past you need to decide if they fit in your present, otherwise let them go..." "Yoga with the understanding of Karma allows the practitioner to regain control over their life, that to me is liberating."

Swami Dasa used the example of a dog coming into a room where two kids are playing. For one boy, a dog might be a good and fun animal, for the other the dog is a source of fear and threat. We rarely see the dog for what it is. We respond to life based on our experiences, prejudices and emotionality. At some point we need to understand at a deep level that not all dogs mean harm to us. That is the beginning of taking control over the emotional response of our mind and over our universe.

Karma is a mechanism to allow us to see how our mind responds, how we affect the world and how the world can affect us. Swami Dasa mentioned too that in terms of Karma our intent to do or think something will propel responses in our environment that we will have to deal with.

As yoga practitioners we can see the biases in our bodies and it is easier to work with them in hatha yoga. Nevertheless, he reminded us that we have too keep in mind that Asana practice is only 1/8th of the whole system of Yoga. The first two limbs are important practices to be mindful and aware of how we should live our lives. For that we need to understand the Yamas as restrains: Non-violence, Truthfulness, Non-stealing, Moderation and Non-greed)and the Niyamas as observances: Purity, Contentment, Austerity, Self-study, Surrender to the indwelling Reality.

Swami Dasa helped us to understand how the upper limbs like concentration and meditation, allow the mind to be quiet, to turn the consciousness inward to see clearly and without emotional responses what lies there and how to change it for the better.

In other words what get us into trouble in our daily lives is many time our emotional response to the events that come to us. Practicing the eight limbs of Yoga give us the opportunity to regain control over our life and therefore have a positive impact on the universe we exist within.

Yoga Sanga interview with Judith H. Lasater

We would like to share with you the interview that Judith Hanson Lasater gave to Yoga Sanga. In this interview she talks about how she found Yoga, her relation to BKS Iyengar and her new yoga book called "Yoga Body"

Click here to listen to the interview.

Judith Lasater has taught yoga since 1971. She holds a doctorate in East-West psychology and is a physical therapist. Judith is president of the California Yoga Teacher's Association.

Her yoga training includes study with B. K. S. Iyengar in India and the United States. She teaches ongoing yoga classes and trains yoga teachers in kinesiology, yoga therapeutics, and the Yoga Sutra in the San Francisco Bay Area. Judith also gives workshops throughout the United States, and has taught in Canada, England, France, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Peru, and Russia.

Judith H. Lasater is also the author of 8 books. For more information about Mrs. Lasater go to her website at www.judithlasater.com

Where are the Yoga Warriors?

It seems like an oxymoron phrase, yoga is balance, quietude and tranquility. Warrior on the other hand brings to mind passion, fervency, energy and even anger. Nevertheless after meditating on it and latest experiences I think both can be reconciled.

As you may know life brings challenges in front of you that if you are willing to overcome, can bring the most amazing rewards.

Not too long ago I received a request for a class. It wasn't a class I felt confident in teaching though the challenge seemed interesting. It was the opportunity to teach a class for people with MS (Multiple Sclerosis).
Teaching gentle classes wasn't alien for me, however this type of class would require all my skills and willingness to study and learn more about this disease.
I was open and honest with the ladies and told them I had no previous experience but consider an honor to teach them if they were willing to give me this opportunity.

After six weeks I have to say this has been a very special experience. As usually happens, the teacher is transformed by the students willingness to try different things and explore the limits of what their body can do.

MS is a chronic, inflammatory condition that can cause an array of debilitating symptoms including fatigue, vision problems and even paralysis.

Some of my students in this group were diagnosed 20 years ago and others, just recently.
They are an amazing group of women that come together once a week to support each other and stretch their bodies the best they can. We use support during the poses to keep them safe and stable as balance can be compromised with this disease.

Being a witness of the fortitude of the human spirit is amazing. They don't complain, always willing to try a pose to see how their bodies feel and helping one another constantly. Couple of them have been practicing yoga for the last 8 years and have noticed the benefits that a yoga practice can have not only in the body but also as a way to slow down the recurrence recurrence of the episodes. Gentle inversions, forward bends and twists are great ways to move the spine and keep the nervous system and muscles active. The relaxation (Savasana) part of the class helps the students to learn ways to cope with frustration, sadness, and depression.

So where are the yoga warriors? They are in classes like this one where being passive and feeling hopeless would be the easy way out, but instead they show up to class, they participate to the best of their abilities and keep a big smile in their faces.
They are the true yoga warriors, individuals that don't don't surrender in font of adversity.
In one of the classes sharing these thoughts with them, one of them said, "I think we are OK, there are worst things we could have..."
Rocio Morales

Bird photo: Painted Bunting,courtesy of Julia Land, a yogini in the MS class. Click on the link to see more beautiful bird's pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/Sashapaco

How to have a healthy neck

Saturday was a great morning for many reasons, the main one was that a group of yoga practitioners came together to learn from a knowledgeable, inspiring and friendly yoga teacher: Mark Uridel.
You may not think that the neck area requires much attention unless you feel the heavy weight on your shoulders, tension headaches or just the sensation of having a head that weights like a ton over your shoulders.

Mark gave a round and amazingly clear class in about 2h. We became aware that the reason our neck can feel tight is for basically four reasons:
1) Tension
2) Upper chest breathing
3) Weakness of usually front muscles
4) Bad posture

The solution? Awareness!
Simple isn't it? During the day be aware of how you breath, take some time during the day to breath on your belly, relax, try to stretch the muscles on your neck and release the shoulders from tension with a good gentle yoga practice and to check your posture he recommends to be more aware of it and use a gentle chin tuck to align the cervical area and the shoulders.

Though the neck muscles need to stretch and strength, Mark recommended to be gentle as over-stretching this area can be as detrimental as having lack of strength.

We also moved into a yoga practice using sidhasana, vajrasana, virabhadrasana I, trikonasana, to mention some of the poses but gaining special attention on how we move neck and shoulders.

After a relaxing Savasana, with our minds clear and body happy after the stretches, we enjoyed chanting some mantras and affirmations to heal the area around the mercury chakra or Vishuddha.

After the class, a 67 year old man who had never done yoga, told me how good he felt after the practice and hopefully he will continue to use the practice to heal some of his tightness in the neck area.

We all left with a sense of openness and grateful for having this great teacher in our area.

Mark has a DVD call Yoga for a Healthy Neck with a 20 and 40 minutes practice included. For more information follow the link http://www.healingartsstudios.com/products.html
Mark has 23 years of experience and training in the health care field. He is a Licensed Physical Therapist, Registered Massage Therapist and Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher. He is a professional member of the International Association of Yoga Therapists. Mark integrates modern Medical Research with ancient Yoga Practices to provide a healing and transformational experience.

What is Hatha Yoga?

Question submitted by Luceli L.

Dear Luceli,
As you may know Yoga has been around for probably more than five thousand years.
Yoga means "to yoke, to harness." The term Yoga has been used as a way to awaken spirituality through the control of the mind. Yoga is a system of techniques that allows the practitioner to achieve Samadhi or Enlightenment.

There are many schools or branches of Yoga. One way to achieve that self-control and attainment of Samadhi is via Hatha Yoga which translation means "forceful Yoga" In "The Shamabhala Encyclopedia of Yoga" by Georg Feuerstein, the term hatha yoga is "applied in general to the vast body of doctrines and practices reared toward Self-realization by means of perfecting the body."

Commonly you will hear yoga teachers mention that "Ha" usually refers to the solar energy and "tha" to the lunar energy. Hatha Yoga therefore is the union of those energies to bring Self-Realization.

All the poses that you take in a regular yoga class, have been developed trough time and many have been recorded in ancient texts. All comes down to the understanding of how the body moves in relation to space.

The poses in sanskrit are called asana (seat) and depending on different texts you can find from 16-200 poses that are more useful to human beings.

Hatha Yoga is also one of the limbs of the Eight fold path. In the practice of Hatha Yoga, the teacher instructs the students in the use of Locks (bandhas) and seals (mudras) "all of them designated to control and regulate the flow of life force (prana) in the body" Feurstein Encyclopedia of Yoga.

Next time you come to your mat, take time to breath and center your energies, be present and mindful during all the poses as they have not only an effect on your body but also on your mind.





Reference:
The Shamabhala Encyclopedia of Yoga by Georg Feurstein pp. 34-35, 118-121