Do What You Want - #DWUW

It doesn't take long for anyone who meets me to realize the things I'm most passionate about: music and yoga. The former has been a part of my professional life since I was nineteen, and the latter was
always my little gift to myself. Music is the thing I've made - with varying amounts of success, depending on the year - into my profession. Yoga was like my power cape that I brought with me everywhere. I put that cape on, and man, I can get through anything.

Over the years, I've had a handful of friends who have known me for varying amounts of time come to a very similar realization that they felt compelled to tell me: This yoga stuff is incredible. In fact I remember my friend Cameron once saying to me, "Damn I feel good. Its like some ancient wisdom."

After twelve years of practice, in four different US markets, with dozens of teachers and a handful of styles under my belt, I still feel like a beginner in the vast world that is yoga, but that very word -

V A S T

- is the reason I think yoga is so effective for so many people. "Yoga" is now common enough in our culture that it has a common association: flexible, healthy women in attractive active wear. In fact, just the other day I invited a friend to come to my class and he said he was worried that, as a young adult male, he'd be distracted by all the beautiful women in the class. This goes to show you what our cultural perception is of "yoga."

But this is exactly why I chose to add the hat of "teacher" to my yoga rack. Part of yoga's beauty - and its incredible and never-ending challenge - is that it can be an activity of almost any nature you need: yes it is a workout....  but also

It is muscular strength training, if you choose to engage your muscles in that way...

It is relaxation, if you bring focus to where your body is tight and have the patience to use your breath and invite the muscles and facia (the fibers that bind your muscles to your bones and organs) to release...

It is emotional healing, if you allow yourself to truly feel what you are feeling in that moment, no matter how beautiful or ugly your feelings may be...

It is allowing empty time for your brain, if you make efforts to try and think of nothing, and just breathe, and know that when your mind wanders back to active thinking, you are patient and bring it back to nothing...

It is a lesson in work and perseverance, if you use your breath, your deep down strength, and your belief that you can conquer this pose!...

It is physical healing, if you are patient with the limitations of your body on that day, and know with time, repetition, and attention, you can heal your ailments...

So yoga is whatever you want it to be. It's learning yourself, your habits, your body, your mind behavior, your sticking points, your stuff that makes you YOU. That's why you hear so often in yoga classes and yoga speak, "your practice." Because you really can do whatever you want. Teachers are there to suggest, to notice from an outside perspective, and to help, using their experience.

But the learning is up to you: DO WHAT YOU WANT. #DWUW

Yoga with Calley at Yoga Garden Minneapolis:

Sundays @ 10:00am - Abbreviated Ashtanga (great for beginners!)
1229 Tyler Street Northeast, Minneapolis, MN 55413

Yoga Garden is cash / check only. 

Please note the doors to the FROST building lock 15 minutes after the start of each class.

Push Through or Back Off?

This is not a blog going out to hundreds of people, so you guys get a little special-ized Calley-centric perspective on yoga / health / wellness as I've gathered bits of info and practice over the last twelve years. And welcome to the mailing list for the new-comers!This week I was reminded of the importance of practice. As in, not talking about it, not thinking about it, actually doing it: practicing. Life has been a bit of a juggling act for me lately, as I'm moving into new business with my VO / production work, keeping the day job, teaching yoga, and somewhere in there hosting a podcast (that's been a liiiiiiiiiittle bit on hiatus through this time). I have not been getting on the mat as much as I want or need in the past month +, and so last week when I re-committed to not just squeezing in yoga here and there, but really dedicating time to practice FOR myself... ay ay ay. I'm a little rusty in some poses, I'm a little sore in some places, and I got a big fat cold.

Enter the perfect scenario to talk about pushing through or backing off? For me in this time period, pushing through means giving myself T.I.M.E. on the mat. As in, dedicate the whole freaking hour, because frankly there's only so much I can get done in terms of bettering my health and practice in 15 minutes (though I am ALWAYS the champion of 15 minutes is better than no minutes. Its the tactic I always recommend for people wanting to do more yoga - 15 minutes every day will take you farther than 1 hour per week in my experience). But once I got on the mat, and re-acquainted with my beloved Astanga primary series, I was reminded that oh yeah... I don't have the same stamina right now. Time to back off. Take some extra breaths. Sit in the pose a little longer, till I can really feel my body shift and move INTO the pose. If you don't know what I mean, go sit in child's pose or down dog or even stand on your floor in tadasana (aka mountain pose, aka standing with the attempt to have equal weight and balance in the left / right and front / back body) for FIVE WHOLE MINUTES. I mean it. Put a timer on. You will then understand that "pushing through" or "backing off" is a moment - by - moment adjustment, and only you can actually DO either of those things. A teacher can recommend, but at the end of the day, we're all our own keepers.Hope to see you tomorrow (or this) morning!

Yoga with Calley at Yoga Garden Minneapolis:

Sundays @ 10:00am - Abbreviated Ashtanga (great for beginners!)

---

Don't Be A Barnacle

Before I tell you WHY you shouldn't be a barnacle, know that you're getting a double post this week, as I finish this cycle of talking about chakras, and how they can help guide your practice.

First a cheater - this was last weeks:

Chakra #6 of 7

I'm leaving you with simple words on this Saturday - the first of the new year.

Health is not hype. 
Its not something you can read in a magazine, or buy in the right pair of exercise pants, or get on an app. Health is a practice, its the way we see ourselves, the choices we make every day (or week... some days you just gotta get the Ben and Jerry's pint and eat the whole damn thing). Its the pits we fall into and then how we choose to either be thrown by them, or find a way - maybe a new way - to get out of them.

Your health is only yours to own and to practice. And with the freshness of the new year, this can be a great time to make an effort in that direction, whatever that means for you. This is what yoga has given me time and time again. Yoga is the the thing I can count on no matter what to treat me well, give me space, and help me find the light.

Change in unavoidable, but choosing to evolve with the change is easy to avoid. And that's why we have community, trial and error, and ultimately, ourselves.

Tomorrow we welcome the new year with a brief description of Ajna - the 6th Chakra which helps us observe the inner and the outer as a witness, an observer. It is a great place to start the new year and attempt something new without beating ourselves up for what we have done, or not done, before.

And now  Chakra #7 of 7

We're at the top, folks! The crown of the head, the point in the body where we no longer exist only physically, but where we start to understand a sense of greater connection - that we really are all a part of something larger than ourselves. I don't mean to get all Avatar on you guys (though I will completely admit to being a cheeseball about how much I LOVE this movie), but truly the challenge in accepting that we are a part of a larger unit is attachment. 

And enter the CROWN CHAKRA - SAHASRARA. This is the place where thought ceases, and is taken over by the sensations of peace, bliss, serenity, joy, and a feeling of the deeper meaning of life. The challenge of realizing these sensations is that they are just that - sensations. You can think about it, you can't muscle your way into it with logic - it is a letting go of our logical need to put it in a box, to control. You have to allow the thoughts to go, and the feelings to take over, and this is not an easy task. 

Do you see why I say don't be a barnacle? Not to sound like such a stereotype, but you gotta just let go...man.  Tee hee. This is why we breathe. It's why we practice being in our bodies and get out of our minds. There is value in unplugging, allowing the brain time to rest and not be in a state of work, and damnit if this isn't a huge tool towards greater happiness, and health. Which is kiiiiiiiiind of the point. We're all working on this together, one big happy (amongst other emotions) humanity. 

Yoga with Calley at Yoga Garden Minneapolis:

Sundays @ 10:00am - Abbreviated Ashtanga (great for beginners!)

Speak truth, and "Be One With The Force." (A little Star Wars for your Saturday)

We're onto Chakra number 5 this week - Vishuddha - or throat Chakra. It is the location where our air enters the body, and get purified. This is where we draw air in, release air out, and tie in breathing practices like Ujjayi breathing, which I've been talking about in my classes - the one that sounds like you're trying to sound like Darth Vadar.

Physically, the nerves in this area are connecting our speaking and hearing centers. Taking that a step further beyond the physical, this is where our ability to express our unique and authentic selves lay. You may have heard the phrase "speak your truth," and this is where we realize this - its about
FINDING TRUTH THAT IS UNIQUE TO YOU
and is not bound by definitions of cultural and family conditioning. As Communication Central for the body and mind, it also governs
OUR ABILITY TO LISTEN AND AUTHENTICALLY HEAR OTHERS,
allowing for the basic human need of being heard.

As we've moved up the Chakras, we've gone through the elements (Earth to Water to Fire to Air) and we are now at Ether with Vishuddha - which in chemistry is an oxygen molecule mixed with 2 other alkyl or aryl molecules. This formula is only one molecule's change from water or alcohol. I like to use this practical thinking of something that is not quite water and not quite alcohol, but also realizes the previous four elements, and connects us to our own very life force: breath.


I also like to visualize the Hindu belief that this is the access point for both nectar - air coming in - and poison - air going out. They call this Amrita, and every breath IN is an opportunity to bring in new life, healing breath, soothing nectar, or **insert happy positive thought**. Every breath OUT is an opportunity to release old poisonous air (of which is very true, we know that exhales contain carbon dioxide, which our bodies make as waste), release tensions and expectations, or **insert thing that causes you pain and stress**.

It's gonna be a whoooooole lotta good heavy breathing this Sunday in class. Think of it like that exhilarating rush of fogging up the windows when you're a teenager... only less touching, and more self time. :)

Yoga with Calley at Yoga Garden Minneapolis:

Sundays @ 10:00am - Abbreviated Ashtanga (great for beginners!)

Your Heart is Waiting

Well, kids - we're technically only half way there on this Chakra series, but in terms of my motivation for the series...

We've ARRIVED! Your HEART is waiting!

I started thinking about all this as the Holidays came sneaking upon us back in November, and it started because the Holidays are all about giving and receiving love. So I thought it appropriate to mention our heart center, where we conceptualize love...

But before there is access to this central point of our nervous system (literally, this is where your spinal cord connects with all the nerves around your heart and thoracic region), in yogic thinking and approach to the body, we start with the ground / root / bottom and work our way up. The chakras all line up with different energetic points along the spinal chord. So three weeks ago we had Muladhara the root chakra at the base of the spine, governing the basic survival functions. Two weeks ago was Svadhisthana the sacral chakra in the abdomen governing the reproductive organs and pleasure. Last week was the Manipura solar plexus chakra located on the soft spot of our bellies above the naval and below the breastbone, governing our digestion and sense of self and personal power.

And so we've gone from our primal selves... to our ability to reproduce.... to our basic sense of "self" as intelligent creatures. And now we come to our power and ability to love. To give love and receive love. The heart Chakra Anahata.

As I have said more than once, I believe this is where we start to to designate ourselves from our friends and relatives the animals.

We have the ability to feel compassion, and love, and empathy. 

We can give and receive love as long as our previous three chakras are being well taken care of. Being able to give and receive love freely is a tricky thing, because it requires that we are taking care of ourselves enough to have enough reserve to give away. Love is not wearing a white dress, or getting a gift, or even spending time, if that is all done without being willing to freely give our love away with no expectation. This is our privilege as humans. It is not what we are owed. It is what we are lucky enough to experience.

Sooooooo, get ready to open up some FEELINGS on the mat this morning ya'll. I can't wait :)

Yoga with Calley at Yoga Garden Minneapolis:

Sundays @ 10:00am - Abbreviated Ashtanga (great for beginners!)

Who the hell are you?

No really think about that - and make sure you're reading that question like this: Who the hell are you? (Instead of how we usually think of it "Who the hell are you?")


Why do I ask this? --- think about the two contexts of those same five words: in one instance, it is a question directed outward, and in the other, it is a question directed inward.

We've all heard the term "giving away your power." Well, in the sense of Chakras (which is the kick I'm on for this holiday season) the third chakra - which is located at the soft spot between your belly button and your solar plexus, and is called the MANIPURA - is our sense of self. Our sense of self-worth. Our sense of power. It means "city of gems," which seems entirely random, unless you dig a little deeper (which I always love to do). It is our own individual "city of gems;" a place of resource and power.

Where last week's sacral chakra svadisthana (the lower abdomen, where the base of the spine connects to the hip bones), is about pleasure and enjoyment, and the first chakra muladhara was about our primal selves (survival, or fear, if that survival is compromised), the manipura goes a bit further. Our sense of self is awakened, and along with it, an ability to choose - to use willpower, and be proactive, instead of reactive or inactive.

Sooooooo, realistically, there's no way to realize and actualize everything that the chakras represent in one week's time. But, like I allllllways say, hang on to what works for you, be willing to learn a bit at a time, and as my Minneapolis yogi hero Laurel Van Matre would say,

ITS ABOUT SHOWING UP.

Hope to see many of you on Sunday :)

Yoga with Calley at Yoga Garden Minneapolis:

Sundays @ 10:00am - Abbreviated Ashtanga (great for beginners!)

Bandhas, breath, chakras, sex organs?

I've always kind of enjoyed being that friend / relative / person who says the thing that you're not supposed to say because its sooooo unCOUTH. But see, that's the thing with yoga - its supposed to be about dealing with real feelings, emotions, physical characteristics, etc. no matter what they are. Its good to unbutton every once and a while in life. (Hey, if we can adopt "It's 5:00 somewhere," we can use the word procreation when talking about yoga - especially around the holidays when its getting nice and cold outside... and everyone is warm inside... yeah you get it.)

So on that note, this Sunday in class (12/7/2014), we'll briefly talk about the second chakra - SVADHISTHANA, or the LOWER ABDOMINAL / SACRAL CHAKRA - which means "dwelling place of the self," and is directly governed by - you guessed it - the sex organs. It's also about emotions, sociablity, and movement.
Why talk about this? Welll...

READ LAST WEEK'S POST

Yoga with Calley at Yoga Garden Minneapolis:

Sundays @ 10:00am - Abbreviated Ashtanga (great for beginners!)

Getting Your HEART Ready for the Holidays

I've been thinking a lot this week about the true meaning of the "holiday season" in our culture. We all know that the grinch's heart grew three sizes when he figured out that its not about greed, but about love. We all know that having our loved ones and/or family around us is the ROOT (alluding, alluding...) of what this time is supposed to be about. But the thing is, there's a few other elements tied in with these concepts of love: Expectation - a byproduct of the human experience; & Consumerism - a byproduct of capitalism.

Now, obviously can't get rid of either of these other factors - nor should we worry that its necessary. If yoga is about anything, its about finding balance, health, and happiness with the truth in front of you, whatever that may be. But often, the thing we forget in this season, is that can't nobody feel the love, if you
A) are doing it begrudgingly; and
B) have not been careful to take care of your own needs and heart.
Its easy as pie to get wrapped up in what you want, what your mother wants, what your partners' mother wants, what your boss wants, and then there's all the stuff.... gifts, decorations, baking, parties... we forget that a very important part of the pie is L O V E. So, for the next four weeks in my blogs and Sunday class, we'll be gearing up and getting you prepped to give and receive the love, unleash the power of BREATH, and get your body, mind, and heart ready with some tools to make it all happen.

Ok it's TERMS time.  If you don't care about the terms, skip down to the next fun colored section.

This is a timely little project, as I was just thinking its about time that I mention to my class the importance of both the bandhas, (or energy centers, often most easily thought of as a muscle group for starters) and the controlled breathing aspect of yoga, called pranayama. Which got me thinking how the heart center is activated by the breath. Which made me realize, well, if we're focusing on getting the heart ready for the holidays, I should talk about the heart chakra.  Except that the chakras (which are considered energy "wheels" or circles in constant motion which govern different parts of body functions and how they interact with the outside world) are "realized" from the bottom up, meaning its best to start with number one, get a concept of what the freakin thing is, start to feel it and think about it & understand its importance in life and health, and then move on up to the next chakra.

And wouldn't you know it -- the heart chakra is the 4th chakra, and there are four weeks till Christmas, and five weeks till New Years, and the fifth chakra is at the throat, which governs the intake and release of air. And when thinking of the throat region in terms of Vayus, which is another concept of how air and breath move through the body - the throat Vayu (called conveniently the Pranic Vayu) governs all the rest of the vayus, or air, throughout the body. Oh the circle of life. 

AND SO!  For the next four weeks - we'll spend a few minutes at the beginning of each class activating and getting familiar with the bandhas, practicing controlled pranayama, and thinking about how these help us to realize our chakras, one at a time, all the way up the heart (for loving yourself and others), and the throat, which is the access point for the breath, and source to facilitate allllll the other stuff.

So!  Tomorrow is the ROOT CHAKRA called MULADHARA. It means "foundation," influences the excretory and reproductive organs, and is ruled by the element of Earth.

Come to class over these next four weeks, and get ready to TREAT YOUR HEART WELL, so that you are goooood and ready for the holidays :)

I found this beautiful 

painting of Muladhara from 

California artist 

Jennifer Mazzucco!

Yoga with Calley at Yoga Garden Minneapolis:

Sundays @ 10:00am - Abbreviated Ashtanga (great for beginners!)

What, What, What are you DOING?

Process: its how you get from A to B. To bake a cake there is a process. To launch a product there is a process. If you have a job - of any kind - chances are you understand that the "final deliverable" of whatever you do, is 1% of your job.  The rest of it is the process getting there.

There is a common phrase you'll hear in the yoga world (or at least the Astanga world) that says yoga is 99% practice, and 1% theory. Which I personally remind myself every time I can't remember the damned sanscrit name for a pose. My brain is just not fast at remembering terms and random factoids.  But processes: there I'm golden. (Good thing I'm a musician and a yogi right? Can you imagine, "Hello I'm Doctor Bliss, and you have an infection in your.... oh dear, what's it called?")

I'm re-using this fun little moving gif that I created for a post a few months back:

- partly cause it was a challenge to TAKE all the individual photos in the 3-second window from "click button" to "be in pose" so I wanna get some use out of this puppy.
- partly cause I'm too lazy and warm here in my bed on Saturday morning to get up and take a new picture for you all. Please forgive.
- partly cause these are great to look at process:

On first glance, here are the "end deliverables":
1 - reach hands up
2 - bend forward at the waist
3 - plank
4 - slow push-up for chaturanga dan
dasana

But lets talk about it from the perspective of process:
1 - reach hands up
     a. make sure feet are spread wide, even contact with the floor from all points of the foot
     b. feel your feet rooting down into the mat, but meanwhile lift energy up through the arches of the foot, and continue that muscular / energetic pull all the way up the legs to the hips
          i. toes are gently touching, heels are 1-2 inches apart, so as to open up the sacral muscles in your low back
          ii. legs are turning slightly in towards one another, activating this idea of a "hugging the middle line" up through the center of the body.
     c. feel the base of the spine strongly connected to the hips, and helping with the rooting sensation in the feet.
     d. feel the spine grow up gently out of the base, respecting your natural spinal curve.
     e. feel your shoulders resting on top of you elongated spine, as though they were placed on top of the spine, and are dangling around it, with a nice, relaxed, wide base across the clavicle and front of the shoulders.
     f. keeping this weighty, relaxed, "dangling" feeling in the shoulders, attempt to raise the arms to the sky, reaching out first, then swooping up, all the while, not allowing the shoulders to become part of the lift.
          i. take note that if you think of your arms as lifting up and out of the belly or even low back, it can help the feeling of keeping the shoulders down.

AND THAT'S JUST #1.  

So take that idea, and apply it to the harder poses. (This is also why its good to ask questions!) You will start to see that even in yoga, all the "end deliverables" (the shape, the pose, the form) is really just many many processes.

It's not about what you can or cannot do. 

IT'S ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE DOING.

Yoga with Calley at Yoga Garden Minneapolis:

Sundays @ 10:00am - Abbreviated Ashtanga (great for beginners!)

Ah yes, The horse.

This is a pre-emptive post for a lot of us - I will likely be linking back to it the first week of January, when we're all thinking about New Years' resolutions, and of course everyone's favorite one is something to do with health, wellness, or fitness. (Enter our magic friend yoga. Stick with her, she's slow to commit.)

But it's worth talking about while I'm revved up about it. Some days you just have to say, "Oh well, today I fell off. Tomorrow I'll get back on the horse."

Case in point - for the last 14 days or so I have be a BAD yogini... I was traveling for a tour with this lady, and you know, when you're traveling all day, playing shows at night, and then catching up with friends, or meeting new ones something has to give. So I did get on my mat a few times, and even got in a whole 45 minutes once on the trip. But mostly I did 10 minutes of salutations, and that has been it.

So what do I decide to do tonight?  Eat a bowl of crack-corn (as I call it) at midnight, when I'm teaching yoga in 10 hours, after not having taught for 2 weeks. I'm already off this damned horse, I figured I might as well get one last roll in the grass before I hop on back up.

I know, I know, there's all kinds of health professionals who would be telling me "never binge before you start (or return to) a routine."  You know what I say to them?  "It's one goddamned bowl of popcorn. It's not gonnna kill me, it makes me happy, and I'm still gettting on the freaking horse in the morning, leave me alone."

For real. This is why I chose yoga. Theres enough expectation out there to choke a bear. Yoga is a great place to just come to breathe, come to learn, come to turn off, and know that its always ok to just do what you can today. The yoga horse is chained to your ankle. He walks with you, and is always up for a trot around the block. You just have to show up :)

Yoga with Calley at Yoga Garden Minnneapolis:

Sundays @ 10:00am - Abbreviated Ashtanga (for beginners!)
Tuesdays @ 5:30 pm - Full Spectrum Yoga (new name, same class!)

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

Before I dive in, HOW AWESOME WAS THE WEATHER IN MINNEAPOLIS THIS WEEK?? Practicing OUTside on October 15th?? Yes please ------------------>




In our modern industrialized first-world, we are constantly bombarded with "responsibilities."

The daily working hours.
Do the laundry.
Mail a wedding gift to your friend from college.
Take the dog for a walk.
Take your kid(s)... everywhere...
Filter through the daily 50-60 emails.
Dry cleaning.
Cooking.
Family commitments.

The problem with modern life is that its relentless. The list never ends, it will eat you up, and spit you out.  SO HOW DO YOU FIX THIS PROBLEM?

You don't. Are you kidding?  One person against the entirety of modern culture?  It is literally impossible. "Thanks, Calley, that's encouraging."

Yeah, I know it doesn't sound very "enlightened." But getting to your own personal version of enlightenment isn't about perfection. It's about dealing with reality healthily. So here's another piece of reality: You can't "fix" it. But you can put yourself in the power chair.

Step back.      T    a    k   e.            T   i   m   e.          Breathe. Make a list. Do what you gotta do.

This really is the only way to make sure that YOU are in control of your life, instead of letting it - and all its responsibilities - control you. This is one of the many lessons yoga has taught me. (And continues to teach me.) The time for you, your health, your mat, and the things that make your heart and soul happy will not magically appear. You have to consciously decide to take time for these things.

And I'm grateful I reminded myself of this lesson this week: I've launched a company called Entertainment Jill (we're breathing, we're breathing...) and I'm also getting ready for a tour with HOLLY in November. On top of teaching yoga and a handful of music students. So when my friend Dave from college told me he was in town for the week playing a show at the Ordway, and we were trying to schedule a time to hang one day, I first called him and told him I didn't think I could make it happen - spare time is nill and finances are tight.


And then I woke up and realized this guy was one of my staple friends in college and I haven't seen him in six years, and here he is in my city. Was I really going to let "regular life" get in the way? Well, I could have. But I'm very, very, very glad that my inner yogi reminded me that life is short, and if we don't make time for the people and things we love, we're just left with a life full of stress.

#dontsweatthesmallstuff

#minnehahafalls

Yoga with Calley:

Sundays @ 10:00am - Abbreviated Ashtanga (for beginners!)
Tuesdays @ 5:30 pm - Full Spectrum Yoga (new name, same class!)

Sometimes being a good yogi...

... means taking a break.

So this week is a break from normal blogging, whilst I shove my face full of Chinese food after a long day at #GiantSteps convention in Minneapolis.

But HEY!  I'm subbing THREE classes this weekend, in addition to my regular Sunday 10am class!  And Tuesday we start the new time of 5:30!

Subbing these classes 10/11 & 10/12:
Saturday @ 8am - Mixed Level
Saturday @9:30am - Slow Flow
Sunday @4:30pm - Back to Basics

Yoga with Calley (normal schedule!):

Sundays @ 10:00am - Abbreviated Ashtanga (for beginners!)
Tuesdays @ 5:30 pm - Full Spectrum Yoga (new name, same class!)

Get your insides ready for the "H word."

HOLIDAYS.  They'e coming. 

No - don't look at the displays in stores (that are already there on October 4th).  It cannot be healthy. You know what is? Getting your digestion ready. As in, help all that yummy food make its way through you, like its supposed to.  Read on. (there's a story.... as there always is with me.)

I have a tendency to be the kind of practitioner - in ALL my practices: music, yoga, cooking, teaching - who likes to get bare bones instruction and then physically figure it out on my own, trial and error. Yet, last weekend during master yogi Christina Sell's visit from Austin, we referenced B.K.S. Iyengar's Light On Yoga several times for alignment. (For those of you saying BK-WHA?? Iyengar is considered one of the modern-day grandfathers of yoga who helped bring its teachings to the western world).

So every once and a while I get on this kick of "oh yeah, lets read that book, written by that master." for a few weeks. Today marks day 2-in-a-row of me practicing with my trustee "yoga bible" Lino Miele's Astanga Yoga. 

So I'm sitting there on the floor in perhaps my favorite pose of them all: Paschimattanasana. (a.k.a. seated stretch.) And when I say favorite, I mean sometimes I will hang out here for fifteen minutes or more and simply RELISH in all that internal shifting. So I thought - what is it about this thing? Why does it feel SO good to me?  Well, according to Mr. Miele (and Astanga master Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, and a doctor, and a few other contributors), this pose is pretty key to all the abdominal organs, which all aid in digestion and blood purification. Which I found interesting (and telling) that I love this pose so much, and I happen to be someone with all kinds of interesting digestive issues (gluten, dairy, probably all kinds of other things I've never seemed to pinpoint). So it shouldn't be too surprising to see that this pose is like YOGA GOLD for digestion.

<-- This was literally me, sitting in one of the other poses (which happens to be super fun to say - all together now!: Triang Mukhaepada Paschimattanasana) reading about regular old Paschimattanasana and all the inner goodness it provides us.

Hoo ray for digestion!  There's more, come to class :)

Yoga with Calley (normal schedule!):

Sundays @ 10:00am - Abbreviated Ashtanga (for beginners!)
Tuesdays @ 6:30 pm - Full Circle Yoga

Christina Sell is here!

Just a reminder to you all that my Abbreviated Ashtanga class will be suspended this Sunday due to the fact that this awesome lady is here to shed some light and knowledge on us all!  HOO-RAY!

I'll leave you with this tidbit to chew on for the weekend. 

Especially now, while the weather is on our side, remember to 

Let the Light In

Yoga with Calley (normal schedule!):

Sundays @ 10:00am - Abbreviated Ashtanga (for beginners!)
Tuesdays @ 6:30 pm - Full Circle Yoga

Be a Beginner (And do it next weekend with guest Yogi Christina Sell!)

There is an awesome guest coming to Yoga Garden next weekend named Christina Sell. 

The amount of information she will pour into your body (across four different sessions, Friday – Sunday) will be impossible to absorb all at once. And perfect segue to this weeks topic:

Be a beginner!

Always be willing to be a beginner. Here’s the fun personal story that got me to this topic. I’m in the process of launching a little baby company called Entertainment Jill. I’ve managed and helped run several different start-ups and small businesses. But I’ve never actually owned one myself, and I’ve been working my way through a business plan since July. Anyone who’s started a business (in a relatively new field and new market) knows that the task list is never-ending. So I’ve been doing work in large segments, cause I like to work in streaks, which means some things go a couple weeks without getting touched. 

Like recording. The thing I’ve been doing since I was a teenager, and love to do. Except being away from it for the last two weeks while I’ve been editing, doing artwork, practicing, and teaching yoga, and now I’m recording not just singing, which I’ve done for years, but speaking which is a relatively new art form to me. 

So I got in the booth tonight to record some audition scripts, and freaked out because I felt stiff, 

and couldn’t seem to get rid of my mouth sounds until I realized I was holding my breath while I was talking! Duh, add breath, and suddenly it’s a nice crisp sound without all the mouth smacking. And I realized two things:   

1: Breath! We need it in all areas of our lives! 

   

      Breath brings more oxygen to everything which can make all kinds of things better: headaches, creative stuck spots, brain cognition, attention, focus, stiffness.  Oh breath. Oh yoga. What a teacher.

      2.  Of course its going to feel rusty if I haven’t done it in two weeks. Don’t freak out, just take some time to warm up, and play. And be a freaking beginner. We all are constantly learning, which means if you consistently expect to feel like a beginner at some point in your day, you’re much more likely to not get stressed out by it when it happens.

Breathe. And be a beginner.

So come to Christina Sell. She is going to make me feel like a yoga fool, but the point is what can I learn from her? How can I make my practice work better for me, and what can she offer me to take onto my mat, and off of it, into my life?

Yoga with Calley:

Sundays @ 10:00am - Abbreviated Ashtanga (for beginners!)
Tuesdays @ 6:30 pm - Full Circle Yoga


If you would like to schedule a private yoga session, or corporate yoga class for your company, please contact me:
p. 612.666.9183
e. calley@calleybliss.com

Love Yourself Into A Habit

As I discussed in my post last week, I learned (or reinforced) the idea that it can take up to 84 repetitions (daily!!) to make something a physical habit, with some lucky birds able to achieve “habit status” in as little as 66 days. 

Twenty-one days to form a new habit? Myth.

I also wrote about the need for P.E.A.C.E. in the world right now in my Tuesday e-mailer, reflecting on everything happening in the Middle East, and Africa with the Ebola outbreak. Even on a domestic level – turn on the news and there’s all kinds of stories of people hurting people. The world is definitely in need of more love. So where am I going with this? 

I’m talking about treating yourself well, so that you can treat others well.

I’m talking about the ever-popular topic of love, and patience (entirely emotional), from a tackling angle that is – you guessed it – PRACTICAL. (Practice…practical… DOTS CONNECTING EVERYWHERE!!!)

First, let me say that I’m not pretending to have a simple answer to all the world’s problems. But I do know with 100% of every part of me that is alive and conscious and thinking and feeling that small changes are a direct path to big changes, and science supports this: Even the slightest shift in energy flow can completely change the course of something. An obvious example is a car crash. A matter of inches or seconds can be the difference between life and death. Or a light switch. If the wattage output is too high for the wiring system, you get a short circuit, and no light. The practical yoga application? A simple change in alignment will change an entire posture, how your bones relate, how your muscles engage, and allow for a better-suited stretch to your body, deeper breath, more oxygen to your muscles and brain, release of more happy-causing hormones (serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, and endorphins), increasing your ability to feel positive emotions, like LOVE. This stuff is not bullshit.

Now, wouldn’t it be great if we all had enough love to give all the time? We’d never be angry, we’d always be able to see things from the opposite perspective and be forgiving. We’d just spread our love everywhere, and people would feel it, and they would feel better, and then spread the love they are feeling and slowly everyone would be a little happier, feel a little more loved...

...and the world would be better because of all the unicorns shitting skittles.

Ok, so that is the ideal. Which likely won’t happen in our lifetimes. But, theoretically, it could work – and does work. You know what I’m talking about - think to an instance in your life where something GREAT happened to you: you got a promotion, your partner told you they love you for the first time, you conquered a long-awaited goal… the rest of the day was likely awesome. The crabby gas station clerk didn’t bug you, you assumed that the lady that cut you off in traffic was just in a hurry to get to her dying mother, you were even able to find forgiveness for your friend when you sensed a hint of jealousy over your awesome new life milestone. So its simple, we just need to feel enough love to be in a place to be dolling it out. Easy, right?

No. How to do this when you work a job that’s good, but maybe not great, and you have bills and debt from college or house, or kids, or LIFE? And frankly, the lady cutting you off really DID bug you…. There’s a lot of negative to focus on, and if you’re not actively being loved on by others, it can feel more like your love tank is just sitting there empty. It’s really hard to spread love, when you’re not feeling loved yourself.  

And my hippiest, hippie comment of all: you gotta love yourself. Can’t nobody take care of others, if they aren’t taking care of number one.

This can be a hard thing to do. But you know what makes it easier???  (I am SUCH a teacher dork.)

HOO-RAY FOR REPETITION!

Repetition!

Repetition!

Repetition!

Repetition!

Repetition!

Repetition!

Repetition!

Repetition!

…times 84, apparently.

As fall comes on, and the weather starts to turn, I invite you to start a new habit 

where you make a space to love yourself more. This isn’t about guilt-ing you onto the mat. And, as I will say over and over and over, it’s not about touching your toes. It’s about giving yourself time to truly check in with your body, your head, yourself. 

It’s about caring enough about yourself to show yourself a little love. It’s not about judging what you look like (I can’t reach my toes to the floor in down dog like that girl!), its not about worrying about what you can do (he can get up into a shoulder stand and I don’t have the first clue where to start!), its about showing up, and making a new habit.

It's allllllll about    L   O   V   E .

Meanwhile, if you reeeeeeally wanna show yourself some love, join me for this workshop coming up in two weeks with Austin-based amazing yogi Christina Sell. You will not regret learning the information she has to offer:

Yoga with Calley:

Sundays @ 10:00am - Abbreviated Ashtanga (for beginners!)
Tuesdays @ 6:30 pm - Full Circle Yoga


If you would like to schedule a private yoga session, or corporate yoga class for your company, please contact me:
p. 612.666.9183
e. calley@calleybliss.com