Off to Yoga Teacher Training

So this is it. I am off to centered yoga in Thailand for teacher training.

It all speeds up as I get closer to departure... maybe the storm before the calm?

I am departing from Newark tomorrow and going through Hong Kong, then Bangkok and finally Ko Samui.

I am looking forward to dedication to the practice, to silence and to the ocean.

Will write soon
Follow me on Twitter or subscribe at: ClaudiaYoga.com

The Presence of Tango

The more I tango the more I notice how much of a yogic art it is.

This past weekend I went to my first "Milonga" (tango dance gathering) and I absolutely loved it. The men at the dance were really accommodating to the fact that I am a beginner and actually taught me steps, it was a pleasure.

The thing with this dance is that as I connect and try to "follow" the lead of my partner (with whom you are paired for about 3 songs), and in order to properly "read" his signals, there is no way you can space out, or think... none of that!!!

The dance gets you to be absolutely present, and it a state of mind suspension... which... hmmm.... isn't that what the yogasutras say that yoga is all about? the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind? bingo!

Highly recommended. You enter walking and with a hint of fear, you walk out dancing and with a smile in your face, and oh! so ever present.
Follow me on Twitter or subscribe at: ClaudiaYoga.com

I know I can do it

I know it is time, I know I can do it, why is it then that I stand in the front of the mat, lift my arms really high, send my hips to the front of the room, and drop back, somewhere in the middle between the ceiling and the floor I get so scared, that I come back and never drop back?

Some advise received in the last 24 hours includes:

a) From a woman in yoga: At home, put pillows and blankets on your bed and drop into it, then start removing pillows and blankets little by little so you get to drop further and further back. Good one, will try

b) Another fellow yogini: When dropping back with the wall, touch it only once as you go back, and only once as you come back. I tried that one this morning... its a miracle I am still alive, yes, lets put it that way, I guess I need more practice.

c) This one comes from Greg. Work on standing up from the back bend first, then the drop back will happen automatically. It is all about strenght in the legs. Haaa? really? that was my reaction by the way

d) This one comes from a potential date. It is all about being aware of the area of your sacrum to whom the whole thing seems counter intuitive. True, I guess this is hoping potential date will give me a private lesson and explain further.

e) From woman number one on the list again. Leave your head back when you are dropping, as soon as you bring it back you lose it all. Sounds simple, but believe me, this one is gooood.

Would like to do this before the end of the century. Yes I know the course in miracles says we are not supposed to control things, but I want to, and I am not perfect. There I said it.

Perhaps I will attempt the Tim Ferris's strategy and go onto to google to find who was the person who dropped back the fastest and in the most efficient way, then interview her.
Follow me on Twitter or subscribe at: ClaudiaYoga.com

The thing about socializing

So it is happening my friends! after years of keeping to myself and going to sleep early for my following morning ashtanga practice I am finally balancing my life, and .... drum roll: "socializing"

The thing about socializing in NYC is that you must get on the subway, especially with the sub 0 temperatures that have been featured in our area lately.

The thing with getting on the subway is that you see things... wierd things.

These are three, which just have to be shared:

1) Friday 10 PM, N,R, uptown, Bleeker St, Station. There is a guy who has cut a piano in two (vertically sort of) so that he could bring it into the subway? it is definitely smaller but I truly have no idea how he brought it down. In any event, he plays heavenly, he belongs in Lincoln Center, but he is here now... nice.

2) Thursday 8:45 PM, downtown NR in between stations. A black man, very skinny comes into the train and announces he is looking for money so if we like what he does we can show him our luv. Then he proceeds to sing a southern tune with so much feeling I was mesmerized.

3) Monday 9:30 AM, 42nd street F train uptown, on the platform. (OK, maybe not socializing but rather "commuting"). There is this big black guy listening to his ipod (it is really loud so we can hear that he is listening to Frank Sinatra), he, in turn, is singing into some sort of what? Tape recorder? which modifies his voice and makes him sound like he is Lauri Anderson. The whole station can hear his amplified and electronic voice. It sounds cool, but you need words to speak out, so he repeats the words of Franky's song, not singing, just the words.

Only in New York... there is a reason why that phrase exists.
Follow me on Twitter or subscribe at: ClaudiaYoga.com

Love Holds no Grievances

What if we imagine that there is no chaos to anything? what it appears as chaos is a kind of divine chaos, and in every situation in our lives is perfect the way it is. This is how Marianne Williamson challenges me today.

It goes well with the Course in Miracles lesson I get for this sunny Tuesday, "love holds no grievances".

I have been toying with the idea. what if I am completely safe, right now, what if all my fears (that my boss may think I am not good enough, that I will never be a yoga teacher, blah blah), what if all of them are just a fragment of my imagination and not real at all. What if God wants me to be like him, like love, holding no fear, no grievances, dare I say: "happy".

It is seriously interesting to ponder on this, I am not sure I can even imagine such thing, which, the course proposes, is our natural state. A state of bliss. Something (my ego?) seems to tight my stomach, and screams Noooo, that is no possible, we must worry, we must try harder.

What I like about this proposition is that "bliss" is not something "out there" but rather something really specific: me, thinking that I am cared for, that no matter what I do all is well, that there is nothing to fear.

How far off from the center have I travelled that I cannot even imagine such a state?

May I return please,
may I re-member,
may we all do,
may we all surrender and realize that are cared for
blessed, protected, loved
may we be grateful
may we be happy

that is my prayer today.
Follow me on Twitter or subscribe at: ClaudiaYoga.com

Praying out loud

I went for meditation today to a nearby church, during lunch hour.

In it there was this man who seemed absolutely determined to pray, and pray. His intention was so certain, his will so intense, that he would stand up, then seat, then read from a book, then stand up again, then pray, then grab the book again, and so on, ad nausea-um.

I thought it was picturesque, even funny, however, he kept on praying in a loud whisper, a VERY loud whisper. This resulted in constant interruptions that sounded like "sss" then more words in whisper then "sss", etc

People around him would look up once in a while, and after fifteen or twenty minutes we were taking turns looking at him very directly to see if he would get the idea, I mean, really!, we wanted silence.

But no, this man was on a mission.
Follow me on Twitter or subscribe at: ClaudiaYoga.com