News & Events : March 2010

news

Yoga and the Social Media Revolution

Yoga is a tool. It can be used to get an exercise fix or it can be a transformative journey to enlightenment. Social media is also a tool. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Flickr can be a time wasting distraction or a tool to learn, engage, connect and share who you are.

Yoga is about connections, the union between mind, body and spirit. Web 2.0 and the social media phenomenon are also about making connections. The Internet has gone from static to an interactive experience. We the users now create the content, peer review products and services, and connect with each other in new ways. You can find the Asheville Yoga Center taking part in this revolution. Discover us off the mat in the following places.

facebook
We've got a facebook page with close to 1,200 fans sharing, connecting and creating community. We've put some life into it recently by hosting a photo contest and sharing favorite yoga quotes. We post weather related cancellations, teacher substitutes and updates of class schedule. We share news on yoga events, related stories, pictures and videos. We will be having more contests and give aways as well, with a video contest, another picture contest and a yoga poetry contest this month. Prizes are an assortment of yoga clothing, media and gear.

Here are some of my favorite yoga quotes so far from our facebook peeps.
"When I met yoga, I felt as if I had swallowed sunshine."
"Your mat is one of the few places you can lose yourself and find yourself at the same time."
"Every thought has a place in your body."
"Until you've cried in a yoga class, you haven't really practiced yoga."

twitter
If you tweet, follow us at twitter.com/Asheville_Yoga Our status updates on facebook roll over to tweets. So you are getting all the info on short notice class cancellations, teacher subs, schedule changes and event updates. We are also starting twitter exclusive give aways once a week.

YouTube
You can find us at youtube.com/AshevilleYoga We have our video contest info and funny sample videos up with much more on the way. In the works are teacher interviews, examples of yoga practice, instructional videos and more. Subscribe and stay connected.

Elsewhere
We've got a presence on Flickr and Google's Buzz as well, though they are not getting the attention we are giving facebook and twitter. We are considering MySpace, do any of you use it? In what other ways would you like to find us? Let me know at sunny@youryoga.com Thanks!

30 Second Yoga Video Contest

see the introduction video on YouTube

Thirty Second yoga Video Contest Rules:
Make it around 30 seconds long.
Title it ‘I love Asheville Yoga Center: Your Name’
Post to your Youtube or Vimeo account and email the link to AshevilleYogaCenter@gmail.com It's quick, free and easy to set up a YouTube account if you don't have one yet. It's much quicker to upload videos using YouTube compared to facebook. And they don't compress the video as much either.

Interpret the theme however you like. Some ideas: What do you like or love about the center, teachers, workshops or teacher trainings? How have you grown, been challenged, made connections, changed you life, etc.? It can be serious, funny, heartfelt, silly, clever or irreverent. Make it yours. Have fun with it.

Contest closes March 25 at midnight. We’ll pick out a favorite and a runner up and announce the results in our April newsletter.

The grand prize winner gets a Hugger Mugger Tapas Ultra Yoga Mat and a Yogitoes Skidless Premium Mat-Size Yoga Towel. Second place gets a Yogitoes Skidless Premium Mat-Size Yoga Towel. Your choice of colors according to what we have in stock. You pick up or we’ll ship.

Questions? Send them to AshevilleYogaCenter@gmail.com or ask us on our facebook page facebook.com/youryoga

Here is some inspiration, or at least a moment of entertainment.

The Yoga of Eating

So if we are what we eat, do we eat what we are? Do I really turn into the human equivalent of a jelly donut if I eat one? It's an interesting question, and one that yogis frequently address on their journey to greater awareness. Just like not every type of asana practice fits every body, no one approach to eating is right for everyone. Some people are vegetarians, some are not. Some people can do well on all raw foods, some don't. It's a highly personal journey and one fraught with challenge at times, particularly for those of us who've grown up with typical American eating habits. On the funny side, it's an amusing moment when you realize that the only reason you thought a particular food was good for you was because the TV told you so!

Listen to Your Gut
On the yogi's journey towards finding a solution for their own particular constitution, intuition and balance are the keys to finding out what the map of your digestive needs looks like. Foods that might be ok in the morning can leave you too stimulated for sleep, and grounding foods might feel too heavy in the early hours of the day. As you progress on your yogic journey, you can find yourself sensitive to foods that you thought were fine before. A good way to get a guidelines for what might work for you is to find out your dosha. Dosha is a term in Ayurvedic medicine, that describes one of three types of energy types (kappa, pitta or vata) which combine in various proportions to determine individual constitution.

To Fast or Not To Fast
So most of us heard this before - something to the tune of "Don't eat two hours before class!" Some people also experiment with other types of fasting as well. Just like food choices, fasting can be something highly personal. Pitta types can be really physically challenged by fasting - they do better when eating every three to four hours. As I Pitta type myself, I try to avoid large meals before classes (and particularly mexican foods!) - but that is just me. A good rule of thumb is to avoid any large or heavy meals before your practice, for the same reason your mom told you not to swim for 30 minutes after eating lunch. You've got to give your body time and peace to digest your food to get the maximum nutritional benefit. A good compromise is eating lightly at least 30 minutes before class - maybe a handful or two of nuts or something with protein, like a hard boiled egg. One thing never to skimp on is the water - drink drink drink!

The Definite Baddies
There are some pretty solid rules about food out there that don't depend on your dosha. It's fact that refined foods, sugars and fried foods play havoc with your health and should be minimized if not eliminated from your diet. What you might not expect is that some of these foods can hide out in products that you wouldn't expect, like high fructose corn syrup in your crackers, for example. When I started paying attention to my diet, I became a label reader. That has given me the power to discern whether that healthy looking box of whatever is actually really healthy for me, because marketing and labeling can be really tricky sometimes. Another empowering trick is to find out what some ingredients like MSG can masquerade as; some alternative (and perfectly legal) names for MSG are glutamate, yeast extract and autolyzed yeast extract, just to name a few. (If you want to know more, visit www.truthinlabeling.org or www.msgmyth.com).

The Awesome Goodies
The good news is that there is so much local, organic and yummy food out there so you never have to feel deprived after kicking the foods out of your diet that aren't serving you well. One thing I found after I eliminated gluten and wheat from my diet is that I kicked an 18 year old acne problem overnight! A lot of yogis who find out what is working for them and stick to it find immense benefits and the ability to be well. So the food story is not all deprivation and finger-wagging - immense freedom can come from finding out what really doesn't work with your body. Once you find the right balance for you, the rewards can be more than you ever imagined. Plus, you might discover new foods you might never have tried before you brought more awareness to your eating habits.

Food All-Stars
There are some great foods for this time of year to help you get through the end of winter, support your kidneys (one of the organs that can get especially stressed at this time of year) and be well. Some of my favorites are below:
- Soaked almonds. A nutritional powerhouse. Soaking the almonds makes them more digestible.
- Royal Jelly. A substance made from young nurse bees as larvae food. Thought by acupuncturists to be deeply nourishing to the kidneys and adrenal glands.
- Seaweed. There are many kinds, dulse and kelp being just two available. For those with thyroid problems, it can deliver necessary and supportive iodine to facilitate hormone production. You can also get your seaweed by eating sushi!
- Turmeric. A spice used in a lot of Indian food. It has nutritional and immune system benefits like decreasing inflammation and boosting your immunity towards some types of cancers.

So, my advice: Set out on your food journey with a high sense of anticipation, an appetite for change and an openness to trying something new! Your reward for feeding your body well will be beyond whatever you can imagine (and isn't that cool?).

--
Yoga Instructor, Writer and Artist - ushasyoga.com

CHAKRA RETREAT

Thanks to Steve Scott, regular student at our studio for writing this. If any of you would like to share your writing for our newsletter or a possible upcoming blog, please let us know.

A soft blanket of snow enveloped the double dome as we nestled in for a weekend of sacred silence, yoga and meditation. Attendees from as far as Florida and Tennessee gathered at the Prama Institute in Marshall, NC, for a new year Chakra Renewal Retreat facilitated by Shala Worsley, a popular Yoga instructor at the Asheville Yoga Center.

From noon Friday all was hush, though creatures were stirring, including a couple goats that were visiting the decorative broccoli plants on the front porch.  Observing silence for the weekend seemed a daunting proposal at first but turned out to be the cauldron within which the elements of the workshop were to stir their magic. Each chakra was covered in sequence, starting with the first or root chakra on Friday afternoon and culminating with the 7th, or Crown chakra on Sunday, after which we broke silence and joined for a veggie lunch and fellowship. 

According to Anodea Judith, author of Eastern Body Western Mind ­-Psychology and the Chakra System, each chakra, except the seventh, has an associated element and seed sound or vibration. First is earth, then water, fire, air, ether and ether again and the sounds or chants for each, Lam, Vam, Ram, Yam, Ham, and Om respectively. Chakra seven (according to Judith) has no associated seed sound but has a resonant sound nngg (like sing). Each energy center has associated physical, emotional and psychological traits as well.

Shala used guided visualizations, chanting of the sounds and specialized yoga routines to help open and balance each center.  Saturday evening we engaged in a session of chanting, primal screaming (yikes) and, for lack of a better term, releasing our inner child by, well getting on the floor and acting like a big baby.  A warm and trusting environment made it easy to open the heart.

Unfortunately life does not always provide us with this kind of environment. Everything from childhood trauma to world events impacts the psyche and can be stored within the mind and body.   Judith   calls the resulting undesirable programming  “bugs in the software”, karma may be another term, and this may be what Buddhist call entities or Scientology refers to as engrams. Whatever your take on this is, we can all use a tune up now and then, at least.  Sometimes we need a major overhaul. 

Affecting a change in the resonance or field of influence surrounding these centers can have profound effects upon our heath, well being, and environment. The elements and vibrations associated with each chakra extend from our bodies into our environment, fusing the cycles of our past, present and future, creating the terrain upon which the fields of our lives are sown and harvested. Like good soil this cosmic terra firma provides a planting grounds for our thoughts to bear fruit, for better or worse. Like the yogi say, all misery comes from within or “as above, so below”.

Being a double earth sign I knew I lacked fire, and a lack of confidence, self esteem and follow through further corroborated the suspicion that, according to Judith’s book, are symptomatic of a third chakra deficiency. The element associated with this area is fire. Fire transforms, this is where the rubber meets the road, where the elements of the lower chakras combine with the ideals and motivations of the higher chakras and are made manifest.

Decades of repressing the right side, inhibiting the alchemy of the third chakra, kept the feminine, creative side bound, holding on, desperate to manifest, resulting in a tremendous amount of tension, most of which became tightness in the hips and middle back. Mistaking this for weakness, efforts had been directed to freeing up this side through asana and contemplation. Not a bad thing but misguided. As events were to indicate opposing efforts would be more greatly rewarded. 

Something was released over the weekend and it became abundantly clear the elements of fire, water and sound needed attention. Upon returning to a friends house, where I was pet sitting, it was immediately necessary to connect with the fire element (by lighting a roaring fire) as the furnace had broken and house was freezing. I didn’t think twice about this until I returned to my little yogi pad. The furnace at home also had gone out, no fire there either. And my water had stopped flowing. Probably because the heat went out the pipes froze. A second element that needed attention. And no sound was coming in through the phone; there was dial tone but the phone would not ring and the answering machine would not pick up. I was now forced to physically reconnect with three elements centering on the third chakra element of fire in order to return to normalcy.  Do Do Do Do, Do Do Do Do (sung to the tune of the Twilight Zone). Coincidence or cosmic cause and effect? You can decide for yourself, I’m calling my therapist.