Archive for the ‘Lia’s Yoga Blog’ Category

“vam vam vam….” was our mantra for the second “sacral” chakra today. As we went through our asana practice this morning, Jackie broke down what this chakra involves. It is where we store our emotions, our feelings. Yesterday, we did the root chakra, which is the color red. It is instinct and inheritance from the “tribe” or our ancestors as Jackie says. The root chakra is our “right to be” chakra. The sacral chakra is “our right to feel”. Repression runs deep in my family, and I feel that over the years I have immensely improved. To say the least, I cried through every hip opener yin pose. I did not cry out of pain. I cried from “letting go” and feeling that which I have pushed down. This chakra in balance allows for the acceptance and embracing of pleasure with a balance of a firm hold on boundaries. This balance is a constant struggle for many of us including myself. When Jackie said “you can not heal that which you can not feel”, I let go. I moved deeper into the pose, and I felt it deeply in my emotions as that which I have been denying bubbled up.

I wonder if I do these poses all the time if I will be clear as a bell and unbelievably happy. It almost seems that I would be. All the emotional weight to bear, I realize that I put in my second chakra, the orange chakra. Any dreams or hopes unrealized or “unbirthed” as Jackie said, reside in this second chakra.  I am one to keep my eye open for opportunities and grab on; however, once I am there, at times, I struggle to accept change or failure.

The “demon” of the root chakra is fear. Yesterday, I faced that I fear getting “stuck” or “settling”. Where I am from, people do not leave. When I was younger, it seemed that they all settled and denied the world of its adventure and treasure troves of knowledge and experience. However, as I age, although I still hope that these people would travel and embrace the world with its differences and similarities, I find I miss the grounding of those who stayed home. I am realizing that just because one stays home, it does not mean she is settling as long as it is an informed choice versus an unwillingness to face the unknown.

The demon of the sacral chakra is guilt and shame. Again, I feel like I have moved passed my fundamentalist christian background that taught me that guilt is basically the emotion of choice. The push that we must be perfect and anything less equals guilt, shame, and repentance. The more I do yoga, the more I embrace non judgment and compassion. However, I know that I am guilty of moving from one extreme to the other when I went from completely denying the world to fully embracing it without full knowledge of what that could entail.

I resonated so strongly with the need for this chakra to “let go” that I felt I must write about it in order to hold on to this emotional release and revelation.

Today I sit amazed at how deeply and completely that yoga touches a human being. It really touches every aspect mind, body, spirit, and emotions. I am wondering how it will be to be at the front of the class and watch different students cry throughout my class. I cried today. When I spoke with other students, they had cried as well – so many tears! How that really translates for me is “so much release!” We are a lot of women ( and a few fantastic men, of course!) doing a whole lot of letting go. Between exhaling it all into the Earth and the tears I feel like by the end I will be a cleansed out, brand new woman! This is what I hope anyway.

For our yoga class today, we did Kabalabakti (hmm…spelling..I’m writing this quickly) or “breath of fire” to heat us up and cleanse out our lungs. When a Kapha is out of balance, she tends to be lethargic over attached, overweight, and depressed. I started the course sad today for some personal issues that I have with a relationship. Every one of us has all three doshas, although one will be more prominent than the rest. I believe that I am first Pitta then a bit Vata, and I have Kapha in me. Jackie says that a Vata out of balance is the easiest to put back into balance then the Pitta. The Kapha is hard to get out of balance but on the other end, quite hard to get back into balance. I came to understand today that the worst phases of my life have not been when my primary dosha is out of whack (when I become controlling, demanding, and drive everyone crazy with too much energy to go around), but when the Kapha in me is unbalanced. I become incredibly unmotivated, lethargic, and sad. It is so opposite from how I normally am that it scared those close to me. I have not had a strong imbalance of Kapha for a long time. Today, I feel a bit unbalanced.

The positive is that our yoga class this morning was oriented toward balancing the Kapha in us, and I found the swift pace easy and comforting. The lack of sitting and laying for long periods of time allowed me to avoid meditating on my emotional issues for a while at least. This morning I had the opportunity to “just be”.

It has been incredibly informative and useful to devote a day academically and physically (and, consequentially, emotionally because this is yoga, of course) to each dosha. I feel like my understanding has moved deeper than what it would be if I just read about them from the yoga classes, the lectures, and the real life related stories as students came to realize what dosha they jive with the best.

This afternoon we are breaking down a few poses that we learned in class and practicing corrections. I just heard that tonight we will be graced with sushi for dinner. Yes!

The purpose of this email is to prepare you as best we can for your upcoming training and trip in six ways.

1. Reading List & Assignments-

I have attached a list of books that you should find and purchase on your own to have on hand throughout the training. You can find these in books on sites such as Amazon.com or bookstores. In addition to the list, Jackie has included a number of reading assignments for you to complete prior to arrival.

2. Waiver –

Please read through the attached policy sheet thoroughly. If you agree, please print it and bring in with you to turn in on arrival. We require that this waiver be signed and turned in to be able to participate in our training.

3. – Tentative Daily Schedule & Syllabus

I have attached a tentative daily schedule, as well as the syllabus that is subject to change according to class needs.

4 – Room Assignments

Please keep in mind that we assign rooms by order of deposit. Those who sign up first share with the least amount of people. We have accommodations that fit from 2 to a max of 5 people. Please refer to our accommodations page for photos and more details.

5 – Travel

I would recommend that you send me your international flight itinerary so that I may present you with the best domestic travel options and make arrangements accordingly.

It is very important for me to know how and when you will be arriving so that we can adequately prepare for you; moreover, it is 4-5 hours (on the ground) and 1 hour (in the air) between San Jose and us. We can not help your arrival if any problems arise in between if we do not know how you are arriving.

Internationally, you are going to arrive and depart from San Jose international airport (code SJO). I recommend arriving no later than 12:30pm. I recommend departing no earlier than 4pm. For more travel information about getting to and from Anamaya, check out our travel page. I would recommend flying with Sansa, or booking the Jaco boat or Montezuma Expeditions. Once you have your itinerary, please send it to me, and I will be happy to assist and book your domestic travel arrangements for you.

Our check in time is from 2-6 pm and our check out time is 11am. If you need to check in or out at times other than those, please let us know in advance.

6 – Packing

1. natural sunscreen

2. non toxic mosquito repellent
3. flashlight

4.water shoes and/or sandals with back straps – this is for hiking and quite necessary

5. camera (underwater preferable)

6. flip flops and swim suit, of course

7. umbrella** (may-dec) **rain poncho

We look forward to meeting you!

With warm regards,

6am! I am not going lie;  it was a bit harder to get out of bed this morning. It was also a bit harder to pull my dogs out of sleep and drag them over to tie them up and feed them. They say that they reflect you! Thankfully, today is another sunny day, and I am able to drive.

Today I have brought a spirulina shake from home because I need it! I am a bit of a protein junkie. We start yoga once again bright eyed and sore at 7am. We do our first “Chataranga Dandasana” today, and we all go “ugh..” I did not feel those 24 plus sun salutations until oh yep right there… Jackie being ever so observant focuses the class today on the core (instructing us to take note and focus on our Solar Plexus chakra – the power center!) and on balancing (with our legs Thus, we were able to engage in a very intense practice without overdoing it with our well worked arms. I love the balance of yoga! We did balancing postures today that I have never done nor seen before. However, I did not struggle too much with them. This is not because I am some amazing yogini but because Jackie’s transitions between poses are very smooth explaining the poses in such a way that you do them before you realize “oh hmm I’ve never done this before!”, which is an art that I hope to master someday. My teacher in town, Dagmar, is almost magical at transforming her students into odd poses that you suddenly find yourself in. I say “find” because you are doing it before your mind has a chance to say “I can’t or whoa or I’m not sure about that…” and you just find yourself in it. It is a very rewarding feeling. I hope to learn the proper alignment, common misalignments, and corrections for all of these poses! I am quite impressed at this point how different each class has been and how unhesitating Jackie is as she leads.

This is our last day before break so for our third session Jackie decides to introduce us to a Yin class.  I felt that this Yin class was one of self discovery. It is a class that opens and pulls everything out that you have been repressing. I can not say that I enjoyed it. I must confess that my rage built and grew throughout class to the point where I had to go out to dinner right afterward instead of staying as I was sure my negative energy would offend everyone. I later learn that Yin postures are great for my Dosha type as they pull me into balance instead of going, going, going all the time. It is the  challenge of stillness and rest. It is quite a challenge, and I am excited to improve…

“I feel like calling my mother to let her know that she gave birth to a raging Pitta,” was the first thought through my head at the end of our third session yoga class oriented toward balancing pittas. Every single describing detail,  comment or piece of advice that Jackie offered, I was like “oh my, that’s me.” At the end, it was hard to keep from laughing. It was one of those moments when “I” make sense. God, it was beautiful. The advice about moderation, balance, even “look at the horizons” for balance has all come out of my poor mother’s mouth who is not about yoga at all. She was just trying to raise a Pitta daughter.

We talked about how Pitta’s, in balance, are the leading, headstrong types that enjoy challenges and constantly push themselves to the next level. They love to learn. They are extremely focused and determined. They are the strongest dosha, but the one with the worst reputation. If a Pitta is not balanced, her head is all over the place unless there is something to focus on, and she has a tendency toward frustration and anger. Suddenly, the practice we had Friday with the Yin all makes sense. I was raging! Everyone else was placidly calm, and I felt like exploding. Jackie says that is the moving out of it. I felt better at the second and third Yin practices. An out of balance Pitta also tends toward perfectionism, which was a struggle all throughout high school and my early years of college. Pittas can also be demanding, pushy, and controlling….oops…

I hate when people push me because I am already pushing myself more than they probably would imagine; their pushing threatens to tip me over the edge and cause frustration and, well, rage. Yikes! She says that the saying goes to make “Kaphas your enemy” as they tend to be unmotivated and contented, and can really use a good push (making militant style Bikram great for them). The saying ends “and to make Pittas your friend” because they need no push at all.

I really appreciated when she explained what aggravated a Pitta. Pittas are incredibly sensitive to toxic substances like alcohol and medication. Given that one beer means drunk for Lia and two means crazy person and three..well, I imagine you get it. I have always shied away from medication and pharmaceuticals realizing how strongly my body reacts to them and coming to understand that often I can take half the dosage of the average does and feel the same or more affected!

Pittas become aggravated by excessive heat. Pittas are supposed to be “hot”. Well, I feel like my limbs are always cold in cold weather; I am not very self heating. However, when I am cold, it is just uncomfortable, something to complain about. However, when I am too hot, as I have experience here in Costa Rica during mid dry season, I am raging. I am angry! It’s insane. Cold is uncomfortable but heat ellicits this incredibly emotional response. I cool down, and I feel like a completely different person!

I sincerely appreciated the chance to discover myself and realize that if people thousands of years ago categorized human beings this way between Vata, Pitta, and Kapha, there is no way that I am the only one like this. There have been people around me dealing with all of this for thousands of years! I found this comforting and hopeful as I hope to cultivate the positive, focused, and determined energy of being a Pitta while at the same time keeping moderation, balance, and gentleness top priorities as well.

This morning started much like the last in that it is official that I can not seem to get out of bed at 5:30am. Thus, at 6am, I hit the floor running to catch my dogs who are still sleeping and wondering why I am so excited. I tie them up, feed them, say thanks to the sky for being dry all night then hop on my motorcycle to drive to Anamaya Resort.

At 7am once again, we start our practice. This morning is more intense than before from the start because the sun is out, and it is hot! It feels so cleansing to sweat. Since we worked the previous day on arms and shoulders, today we are devoting our practice to the legs. It was a very interesting practice. We did many lunges and many twists. I love the way Jackie emphasizes certain movements such as putting pressure on the front leg’s heel, bring the other hip forward, bringing the stomach in then tucking the tailbone to FREE THAT LOWER BACK! The concern for the body during intense physical exercise is key for me, as well as balancing rest with movement. Jackie calls rest “a chance to allow the body to integrate”. After the practice, we had another silent breakfast (practicing our second Yama, which is “Satya or Truthfulness”). I am totally using this journal as a practice tool I believe the idea is that silence can create an environment conducive to truthfulness by taking away the chance to lie/deceive others or ourselves.

For our mid morning session, we each took a turn teaching the group sun salutations. Yay 24 plus sun salutations! We put what we learned about proper alignment the day before to work! It was humbling and encouraging to watch other students stumble, correct themselves, and finally learn. We are going to bust out some great teacher from this group

When we sat down to eat lunch, I was very excited because the sun was still out, which meant the roads were not too muddy for me to drive to the next town on my motorcycle. I have been able to acquire a ride in someone’s car up to this point to go buy my dogs’ food, but this time it was the last day before I ran out so I decided that I was going to be independent and try to balance it on my motorcyle – oh ya, that was my plan. Again, my two dogs are more like mini horses, and I buy them a bag of dog food that lasts us a month so it is about the height of me or 5 feet.

Thus, after I eat quickly, I do not go straight to Cobano to start my adventure, but stopped in town for an amazing little “bola” of vegan, sugar free chocolate chip mint ice cream made by the local bakery/cafe called Organico; I felt that if I am about to put myself to work, I am going to add in a little reward before the action.

Driving to Cobano, I noticed that my accelerator is acting funny, kind of sticking. Given that my knowledge of motorcycles is somewhat limited, I did not worry too much. I arrive at the Cooperativa to buy dog food remembering that they do not have a credit card machine, and I have no cash so off to the bank I went. I pull money out then go to start up my motorcycle, and it makes the sound that young teens make when their parents by them a hot car – it really revved up without me touching the accelerator…ugh…

My next stop is then the mechanic. His shop is closed. My next stop is to drive out to the gas station. The mechanic kindly tells me the gas cable is bad, but that he can not fix it. He sends me to the Honda dealer. I go to the dealer and sit while he ruffles through his computer to tell me they do not have the right cable. He sends me to the parts store. I go to the parts store and park in back because I had heard that a young guy behind it fixes motorcycles.

I ask the 18-year-old looking mechanic if he can fix mine, which he affirms, but says there is someone ahead of me. It is not 1:45pm, and I am supposed to be back to Anamaya at 2:30pm. I bat my eyes and beg a bit then go into the parts store hoping for a cable. The old shop keeper goes in the back, and I can see him pull down a bunch of cables and start picking through them. After 10 minutes, he comes back to sell me the last cable of they type I need that he has. Yes! I go back to the mechanic who is ready for me. Yes! He fixes the cable  and charges me $4 for the work – not bad

With my moto fixed, I finally go back to the Cooperativa to buy dog food. I also need a rain suit. I buy a rain suit, and the dog food and nice worker helps carry out my dog food. I tell him to lay it across the front because my plan was to balance it between my legs. Thankfully, he tells me he will lend me some rope and ties the dog food on the back of my motorcycle for me. Yes! I try to half sit on the rain suit package.

Half way home it starts to jungle rain pour. I stop in the middle of the road to put on my new rain coat , and wibble wobble the rest of the way home. In the pouring rain (I’m soaked), I go in the house, grab a knife, run back out, cut the dog food off my moto, throw it over my shoulder and run back in. The time is ticking for class to start. I grab a dry pair of yoga pants and put them under my rain coat; no reason to put them on at this point and run back out the door.

The road is no longer ridiculously muddy between my house and Anamaya so I can actually drive on it as the rain has let up – a bit. I make it to Anamaya and miraculously, it is 2:30pm. Yes!

And you thought this journal was about the Yoga Teacher Training…

It is! In the afternoon session, we broke down the sun salutation postures and really dove into the alignment, misalignments, corrections of  “Adho Mukha Svanasana” or “downward dog”. We learned that this pose can be “a whole practice in one pose” as it is a back bend, forward bend, and  inversion that strengthens the upper and lower body all simultaneously!

After dinner, we have a lovely Satsung, and I go home more than ready to balance my day with some much needed rest…

Today started out with a great bit of luck. My alarm clock did not go off at 5:30am as I set it, however, I miraculously woke up at 6am. You see, our first yoga class starts at 7am and most of the other students will be waking up at 6:25am in time for a bit of fruit and tea, but I have to wake up earlier because I am a local here in Montezuma and live up the road. My dogs, which are more like small horses, usually take me about 30 minutes to wrangle up. This morning grace was with me because when I swung open the doors to the beautiful green countryside prepared to yell for my dogs, they were right there tails wagging waiting for me. Yes! I tied them up, fed them, and blasted down the road in my rain boots to Anamaya.

This morning’s yoga class is a practice focused on teaching us the different approaches to the Vinyasa flow sequence, which means a lot of sun salutations. The sun salutations were intense permanently printing into our minds the different approaches. After many of those, we transitioned into some Yin poses, which were beautiful and releasing and quite intense in their passive way. I struggle with tight shoulders and hips so these poses are always a blessing for me. After that, we pracaticed some pranayama then on to shavasana. We had a silent breakfast keeping in all the prana that we lifted up and spread throughout our bodies during the practice. It was very peaceful and calming experience; not to mention that the breakfast was excellent!

We spent our mid morning practice breaking down the sun salutations postures (specifically, the “Chataranga Dadasana” low plank, “Urdhuamukha Svanasana” upward dog, and “Bhujangasa” cobra). We learned common errors with these poses and how they can become quite damaging for the lower back if not practiced properly. We also learned adjustments and practiced on each other. We all walked away with full heads and sore upper arms and shoulders

In our evening session, we learned a mantra called “Mahamritunjaya” to assist the grandfather of one of the students who had just passed away to let go of the attachment of this world and move on to the next. It was quite a moving little ceremony. In this session, we also talked more in dept regarding the 8 limbs.

After dinner, I went home and enjoyed  a “virgin” hot tottie with my neighbor (lime, honey, hot water, and usually a dash of rum then went to bed dreaming of how to properly say “inhale” “exhale” throughout sun salutations…