by Brianna | Jan 31, 2012 | Change, Chanting, Fear, Healing, Healing Yoga Practice
In Transition (a workshop I taught last weekend and offer biannually) has become a touchstone in my teaching. It reminds me to tune into myself. To see where I am at in both my practice and in my life Many of you know that I am active in my studies better known as trying to: reduce my own stress, figure out patience, release my fears, accept and love myself and be an active present participant in my own life. Everything I ask my students to do I have explored myself. When I find something that is healing for me I play with it for a while. I explore my edge. Making sure I am ready to hold open a wound before I use it as a parable in my teaching. As I am a type-A personality and a recovering stress addict there really is loads of material to draw from. In Transition Tea made my Zensations This weekend right before I ran my workshop I totally got bugged. Workshops are different then typical classes because there is a theme that people are expecting to be adhered to. Because of that I go early, I prepare the room, I light candles, make tea and sing to the space. On Saturday I left my house early to do just that – according to the schedule I had the luxury of time. But the schedule was wrong. Bath Salt envelopes for In Transition Another teacher had scheduled a private lesson in the workshop space and while the student was there she was late. According to a work-study the lesson went till the...
by Brianna | Dec 9, 2011 | Change
Growing up my grandparents ate sardines on saltines and I thought it was the grossest thing ever. It was a hatred founded on sight. Never tried one, was never willing. Sardines were way outside my comfort zone. Personal comfort zones serve as a form of self-protection and there are things that will always be outside these lines in the sand for good and relevant reasons. From my perspective, the issues happen if there is no reason for protection and that discomfort or aversion is unfounded. It is then that rather than protect us are zone of comfort begins to hinder us and hem us in. Through my personal practice I have learned that the only way to expand my zone of comfort is to push through my discomfort and do it anyway. That is how I fell in love with chanting, discovered the power of breath-work, and most recently found a way to teach my joyful song. FYI: Usually, I talk about this right before I make my students super uncomfortable and push them to do the practice anyway. I have to fess that I am not a Vegetarian. I was for a long time and now I am not. I am however a mindful eater. I try for organic and sustainable. I read about food trends, participate in an international food club and when I cook it is with intention. My longstanding favorite ingredient is love. Recently, I heard about sardines from several different perspectives. Chefs love them and even the Wall Street Journal had an article about the best way to offer canned versions up. They are...
by Brianna | May 2, 2011 | Breathing, Change
Yoga, Reiki and Hypnosis are each at their basis self-healing in nature. They certainly healed me and I am ever so grateful for the changes that my practice and effort have brought. I also love that through each of these tools I continue to learn and grow, that after more than a decades worth of practice, I am still both challenged and comforted by them. In December I resigned my full time position as a librarian for a local museum with international stature. As I had studied art history in college having a museum job was hugely meaningful to me – I got to hold works by Picasso actually in my hands. I worked there for four years and chafed at my role every step; it was during that time that I accepted that my dreams really had nothing to do with library science or art history. Instead, mine have everything to do with teaching others that they are in fact empowered and have the ability to heal their very own self. These past few months have been tremendously challenging and utterly rewarding. Holding the space for others to heal and transform is a remarkable day at the office. Quite frankly it is an honor. So to each of you out there who are struggling or unwell, I wish that you continue to try as many different pathways as possible. After all, there are thousands of different doorways to healing you just need to find the tools that work best for you. Because, and this is the truth, healing yourself and coming to a place of peace, is worth...
by Brianna | Feb 16, 2011 | Change, Chanting
When I first started teaching I basically taught Yummy Yoga. I did anything I could to keep my classes and students inside the comfort zone. I didn’t make them chant, I didn’t focus on the breath, I didn’t offer extended relaxations. Basically I taught stretching with a little strength thrown in. People liked it. I liked it. But truth be told – none of us grew. I didn’t grow as a teacher and while my students were safe and secure they didn’t really transform either. My students now would be hard pressed to find the “me” they know in my first years teaching. Now I push myself to teach what is difficult for me. Make people hug each other? Let that love OUT. Chant for a fifteen minutes with arms in the air? Watch those limiting thoughts just melt away. Ten minute guided relaxation at the beginning? The type A’s hate that until one day they LOVE it. So what changed? Why the shift? The reason is simple, I just realized through my own practice that it was when I made myself uncomfortable, when I pushed the edges of not just my practice but my beliefs that I really and truly started to transform. As with all my work, I base my interactions with my students, on my own experiential understandings. If being uncomfortable and doing it anyway transformed me – chances are it would transform them. With that said, I must admit: I still turn to my comfort zone when I am over stressed and under-slept. During those times I melt myself back into the safety of a...
by Brianna | Feb 11, 2011 | Breathing, Change, Chanting, meditation, Uncategorized
Learning to draw our mind to focus is a powerful tool both on and off the mat. But just like every other part of yoga, meditation, is a practice and imperfection is inherently implied. When we have spent years multitasking and treating life like it is a sprint, is it really any wonder that focusing is a challenge? I know when I first started meditating I thought it meant emptying. Achieving a space of no thought, no awareness – a completely altered state of being. But as humans we are thinking machines, many of you like me have monkey minds that are constantly whirring; no matter how much I tried to just “let go” thought was somehow always there. Over years of practice and many good teachers I finally accepted that meditation is not the absence of thought. Meditation is focused thought without attachment. Very nice right, but now: “what on earth does that mean?” Simply put, meditation is an exercise in focus where what you are focusing on is arbitrary. That is why the breath is such a powerful meditative tool – it is completely unconscious yet it can be made into a conscious act. When the breath is used, you can focus on it but if you stop focusing nothing will happen. It will continue to roll. You will continue to live and all will be well. It then becomes your responsibility to remember that it is the nature of the mind to wander. It is the practice to draw it back to your breath. I think it is also important to realize that meditation, while it...
