Posts In: yoga

Guest post by Debbie Philp

My long-time yoga teacher, Tracey Ulshafer of One Yoga and Wellness Center in Hightstown, New Jersey, often told us that breakthroughs in her yoga practice happened when she was too tired to tell herself she couldn’t. After having plenty of my own exhaustion-inspired breakthroughs, I’ve taken that to heart and shared it. My first lift-off into Bakasana came at the end of a long vinyasa workshop that followed a sleepless night of riding trains to New York City and back. (Don’t ask.)

Like pushing through the “wall” when running, at some point during a physically demanding yoga practice your body decides thinking is using too many precious resources, and redirects them to your muscles. Your brain still works, it’s just gone on autopilot. And you don’t have the energy to say “I can’t.”

Moving through exhaustion

There was a time not too long ago when I’d been exhausted for months thanks to an inner ear issue, and I hadn’t been asking much of my body. For weeks I’d been relegated to supine, non-dizzy-making poses. And, since it was still pretty cold here in the North Country, most of those supine poses had been practiced under my fluffy quilt…which is on my bed.

Anyway, one day I did something a fiesty friend told me to do – I took a “f*ck it all pill” and had myself a real, physical, sweat-producing yoga practice. I practiced Surya Namaskar with no dizziness, no nausea, no ear pain. Woohoo! Then I took advantage of my recovering equilibrium to play with a home practice sequence I had torn out of Yoga Journal months before.

I was enjoying myself, thinking of ways I could adapt the sequence for my varying levels of flow classes until I wore myself out too much to think. When the paper said Bakasana (crow pose), I flew. Then I read the next step. (Yes, while balancing on my hands I was reading from the magazine page. Yoga does have its perks.) It said to draw my chest forward and float my feet back into Chaturanga Dandasana. Countless times before, when a yoga teacher said “jump back from crow,” I had quietly put my feet down and stepped back into plank.

But that day I had taken a “f*ck it all pill” and I had made myself too tired to say “I can’t.” So I did what it said. And it worked…almost. I went a bit sideways and only one foot found my mat. But the second time it worked just fine. And the third, and the fourth. Then my brain woke up and sent me into Balasana.

When my forehead hit the floor in that child pose, a big chunk of something (use your imagination) slid down the side of my throat. I swallowed before I realized what I was doing. Gross. But when I swallowed, my ear didn’t make the crunching sound I’d gotten used to hearing. So I swallowed again, just to be sure. I’m not positive it opened completely, but something definitely changed in my ear.

Yoga fairy dust

At the Colorado Yoga Journal Conference in 2008, the great Ashtanga teacher David Swenson told us that we would, at times, be visited by the yoga fairies who would sprinkle us with fairy dust and we would suddenly be able to do whatever asana had been eluding us. He also pointed out that the yoga fairies had a sick sense of humor, so after achieving that challenging asana, we’d probably not be able to do it again the next day. So I wasn’t surprised when I woke up the next day and my ear was cracking and I couldn’t jump back from crow to low plank.

But that day, when I was too tired to say “I can’t,” I had it.

Check out our  yoga class schedule to find a class that will give you those “too tired to say I can’t” moments and contact us if you have any questions.

Debbie Philp, the founder of True North Yoga, sees the pursuit of wellness as a sacred journey that reveals the healer within. She offers yoga and shamanic healing practices to help you discover your innate power, your inner wisdom, and your ability to nurture yourself and others. Debbie is a E-RYT500 yoga teacher and a Shamanic Reiki Master Teacher. She teaches yoga classes, leads yoga teacher training, instructs Shamanic Reiki Levels 1 and 2, and offers individual healing sessions. Visit her website: www.DebbiePhilp.com

Guest post by Debbie Philp

It starts with a groundhog

A few of days ago, Americans acknowledged the old Celtic festival of Imbolc (or Candlemas) by practicing the art of weather divination. In other words, some folks woke up some groundhogs and, because some saw their shadow, declared there will be six more weeks of winter bleakness. (And, because it is 2018 and even the groundhogs are standing up for their freedoms, one Canadian groundhog bit a reporter who tried to stop it from escaping its pen.)

For the most part, I don’t mind winter and enjoy the snow, but sometimes it does seem to drag on and on. I suspect the Celts thought so, too, since they chose to celebrate the midpoint between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. It’s kind of an “over the hump” thing – the Wednesday of winter.

This winter’s temperatures so far have bounced between “too warm for winter” and “too cold for me and the pipes,” and rain has alternated with snow leaving a thick layer of ice on places like my driveway. The political and social climate in the United States has been equally inconsistent and icy lately.

Yet here we are at the middle of winter and there is reason to hope. Can you feel into that?

Gathering in hope

We may be gathering in protest, in celebration, or for a big football game, but we are gathering. We are leaving our homes, risking icy spots, to declare that we still have hope and winter won’t beat us.

This is the spirit of Imbolc. It is a time to shake off the winter doldrums and cultural and joyfully declare, “I know that spring is coming. We can get through this dark time.”

We also gather at the yoga studio. In addition to yoga classes, where we connect through the shared practice, we gather for events such as our drum circles and Reiki shares, goddess circles and Red Tent temples. Yoga teachers gather for teacher trainings to advance their own practices and to become better instructors for you. We do our best, working around winter weather when necessary, to keep our opportunites to gather going all year.

I appreciate everyone who braves the cold and snow to gather with me. You bring me hope. More snow is on its way. Perhaps the second half of winter will bring us opportunities to enjoy the outdoors as well as coming together on our yoga mats.

Check out our yoga class schedule for chances to gather and our home page for upcoming events.

Debbie Philp, the founder of True North Yoga, sees the pursuit of wellness as a sacred journey that reveals the healer within. She offers yoga and shamanic healing practices to help you discover your innate power, your inner wisdom, and your ability to nurture yourself and others. Debbie is a E-RYT500 yoga teacher and a Shamanic Reiki Master Teacher. She teaches yoga classes, leads yoga teacher training, instructs Shamanic Reiki Levels 1 and 2, and offers individual healing sessions. Visit her website: www.DebbiePhilp.com

Guest post by Debbie Philp

It’s not what to wear to your first class that matters

From what I’ve observed during my nine years of teaching yoga, it’s not hard to get someone to try yoga for the first time. It’s getting him or her back for the second round that’s the challenge. Because most yoga teachers, myself included, can’t take the time during a 75-minute multi-level class to fully explain to newcomers what to expect, here is what you really need to know before your first yoga class.

The first time you try yoga, it will most likely feel very awkward. Just standing with bare feet on a sticky mat feels weird. Getting your body into the same shape as the instructor’s will seem impossible. You might feel uncoordinated, unbalanced, ungraceful and totally inflexible. The next day, you might be sore in places you didn’t know you had muscles. And, if you can’t set all those feelings aside, you might never try yoga again.

Yoga is not an instant cure-all. A yoga practice can make your body stronger, more flexible and healthier, but it won’t happen overnight. One time is never enough. The only way yoga can work is if you keep practicing.

The trick is to get through that first class without letting your critical ego get in the way. Your body is going to think yoga is great and that it wants to do more. The muscles, although they might be sore, will have really enjoyed the stretching. It’s your mind that will shut down your desire for more yoga. Your mind likes to carry on about anything it can, so it will chatter away, telling you that you didn’t look good in the poses, that you aren’t flexible enough to do these kinds of things, or that you need to lose 25 pounds before you try again.

It really is all in your mind

The problem with the mind is that it always wants to be the center of attention. It looks for things to think about so it never has to be quiet. Yoga takes your attention away from the mind and directs it to the body. The mind fights back by dragging you outside yourself. It worries about what other people think and tries to convince you it knows what’s going on in other people’s heads. Once it does, you feel self-conscious and inadequate, because you can never live up to the expectations you have imagined other people have for you.

The truth is nobody else in your yoga class, besides the teacher whose job it is to make sure you are doing the poses safely, cares what you look like on your mat. Other beginners are suffering the same insecurities you are, and more experienced practitioners are usually thrilled when someone new tries this practice that they love. Once the class is underway, all those with experience are focusing on their own bodies and probably won’t even look at you. Many go through their practice with their eyes closed. They are not watching you to see if you mess up.

It’s okay to laugh

While laughter is certainly not off-limits in yoga class, and is, in fact, a welcome release when the class is getting too intense, nobody will laugh at you for being a beginner. Yoga students sometimes laugh at themselves when they struggle to balance in tree pose or mess up their rights and lefts and end up facing the wrong way. Laughter is a wonderful, heart-opening practice when it comes from love and camaraderie. Yoga students may laugh together, but they don’t laugh at each other, despite what your ego may tell you.

Practicing yoga is also an exercise in humility. Unlike sports, you are not going to get much recognition for doing yoga, no matter how well you do it. You can practice yoga for 20 years and you will never get a trophy, or even a ribbon. You are unlikely to have your journey to yoga greatness documented by a gaggle of photographers. On your mat, it’s just you against……you. Nobody wins. No sports page coverage.

Putting all the ego stuff aside is what makes yoga different than just stretching exercises and, in the end, is what brings people back to the mat. When you learn to ignore all the stuff the mind is going on about, it shuts up. You get to have a few moments of quiet and you discover what yoga really is.

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Yoga is the settling of the mind into silence.

That’s what it comes down to. The whole time you’re on your mat, struggling awkwardly into poses, fighting off critical thoughts – while toning and strengthening your body, of course – all you’re trying to do is have a moment of silence.

Once you discover the silence, you’ll keep coming back to your mat. The next time you practice, you can be pretty sure you’ll be right back to struggling with your ego, trying to find the silence again. But over time the poses will feel a little less awkward. You may be a bit more balanced and feel a touch more coordinated. You will begin to move with grace. And you may discover that you are more flexible than you thought.

All because you didn’t let the first class be the last class.

Check out our beginner-friendly yoga class schedule to choose your first class and contact us if you have any questions.

Debbie Philp, the founder of True North Yoga, sees the pursuit of wellness as a sacred journey that reveals the healer within. She offers yoga and shamanic healing practices to help you discover your innate power, your inner wisdom, and your ability to nurture yourself and others. Debbie is a E-RYT500 yoga teacher and a Shamanic Reiki Master Teacher. She teaches yoga classes, leads yoga teacher training, instructs Shamanic Reiki Levels 1 and 2, and offers individual healing sessions. Visit her website: www.DebbiePhilp.com

The holiday season is upon us, and that means endless joy, family bliss, and abundance, right? (Yeah, even the yoga teachers are snickering at that.) Traffic, crowded stores, and unrealistic expectations can turn bliss into tension. But you don’t have to fall into the holiday stress trap. An affirmation practice can help.

An affirmation is simply a statement made confidently about what you desire to be true for you. When you create an affirmation, decide what you want to be true in your life, then state it as if it is already the case. Choose something you can say in the positive, rather than repeating what you “won’t” be doing. For example, if you notice you anticipate being uncomfortable around aquaintances at an upcoming holiday gathering, you might affirm:

I embrace the holiday season with joy and an open heart.

To use an affirmation powerfully, repeat it daily, out loud, with conviction. It helps to say it three times in a row, three times per day. This way, you are programming your mind into believing it to be true. Where your thoughts go, your emotions follow. It’s the same mechanism that makes us cry during a sad movie scene, as if it were happening in reality.

To get started, you can choose a holiday joy affirmation from the box when you visit one of our yoga studios. Your yoga practice will also help relieve holiday stress, so check our schedule for a class in Schroon Lake or Keene Valley, New York.