Short trip to Ananda

To be continued after Christmas!

Meditation and Neuroscience

This is what I have been doing...studying herbs!

Centipede, not exactly an herb.

Good for your bones.

Wouldn't it be annoying if you were asked to ID sticks and roots?

Things that extinguish wind

Aversion vs Attraction

When I first started practicing Yoga...all the poses were hard! I used to hate chair pose. Like, #1 pose to hate. Now I really teach chair pose...soooooo much. I sort of love it..but still remember hating it. Its that thigh burning thing. I'm used to it, but its still killer sometimes especially when you're required to be there for a long time. Also there is so much to do in terms of variations and flowing into it. Also, once I'm out of it, I'm pretty happy about it! Well my point is these poses we have an aversion to ...or even an attraction to...what does that really mean? Why do we attach these opinions to experiences even when we know that the experience is not always exactly the same, therefore, our opinion can change about it at any given time. Every once in a while its good to come back to that neutral ground, weight equally distributed, tadasana, samastithi. Reset and start over. Forget that you couldn't get the balance on your right side. Start over before you do the other side, as if its your first side.

What's right?

I just heard that Chick Fil-A was anti-gay (where have I been)? Apparently there's a Chick Fil A right under my nose in a NYU building food court. Does Willam make it right to eat Chick Fil A even if you're gay, even if they're anti-gay? The thought of waffle fries makes me question what's right and what's wrong.

Wilson Phillips realness is definitely right though.

Happier if you smile.

According to Harvard and Stanford Business schools. Serious research.

Chisme, chismosa

I like this idea of turning something negative into a positive. As Americans, we are geared towards wanting our material stuff. We are constantly in this state of comparison and trying to win some unofficial contest that we call life. We constantly want things we don't have and we engage in a game of envy. And I have always thought this about gossip. I know gossip is supposed to be bad and terribly negative. But I really like to gossip. Ok, well there is bad gossip...that is mean and hurtful -you feel icky afterwards -but then there is just meaningless gossip. Like when you talk about things for no reason but just to sit around, sip your tea and shoot the shiz with your homegirls. To me this gossip -meaningless gabber about what we "want" in life, etc etc...is great. Its abundance. I love it because it means I have the luxury in life to wah wah wah about meaningless stuff. If I can sit around on my butt and complain...geez, my life must be pretty good no? I mean people who are actually forreal forreal suffering and down in life are not sitting around talking about how life would be better if only this, that and the third. Or if only I had this so that I wouldn't have to complain. I believe when one can overflow their conversations with all this nonsense, it means...there is an abundance. Abundance attracts abundance. So if you can see your complaining as something light -an activity instead of a serious lacking...you can feel not only lighter, but maybe attract a little more abundance for yourself.

With that said, I defer to Deepak Chopra.

Gratitude

We successfully delivered 40 meals with minimal gravy spillage.

Goddard Riverside Community Center.

Abundance

...is present even though we may not think it is. Despite what we're lead to believe, we will always have something to give to others and there will always be someone that is less fortunate. A little can go a long way and...its is contagious.

Lack of time for posts means...awesome links!

Rockaways gets free acupuncture clinics
http://www.wellandgoodnyc.com/2012/11/20/a-healing-pop-up-in-the-rockaways-helps-sandy-survivors/#

Pandacam is amazing!
http://www.wellandgoodnyc.com/2012/11/20/a-healing-pop-up-in-the-rockaways-helps-sandy-survivors/#

The post exams, post Sandy Post.

Lost of studying, then taking of exams, then Hurricane, then black out, then displacement, and now sort of back to normal with a limited MTA schedule. That pretty much sums up the hole in my blogging. Pictures below.

Halloween with a baby Tigger

Catching up over hot pot to pass the time of displacement :)

Another way to pass the time while being stuck in Flushing.

Studying herbs? Sort of...

Glow sticks were great for dark staircases and locker rooms!

Deserted Doyer's St, Chinatown.

I recommend skipping rope in dark corners, because I don't like skipping rope!

No power in Chinatown but we can still do bagwork.

Still enough daylight to train :)

No one talk to me!

We can all use a little more

Ji Xue Teng, Spatholobi Caulis. Still studying herbs...

Destroy the Ego

Being a "beginner" in yoga vs. "experienced" is not about going into binds, inversions or whatever you might think is the deepest variation of a pose. Its not doing every chattarunga or being able be in a headstand for 9 breaths. The difference is being able to let go and know when your body needs child's pose or to skip a vinyasa. Its being able to know what is available and appropriate at any given time. Just because you can bind in side angle pose doesn't mean its appropriate to do that version every single time you do it! This is a time in our practice when are challenged by our ego. Sometimes as simple as tree pose might seem...we have that day where its just not happening and you just can't get into it. This is when we have to give ourselves permission to not be perfect and not be as "advanced" as we thought we were. Sometimes we're faced with challenges in life. Those days that go completely wrong...when things don't happen how we expect and we're suddenly late for everything or missing the bus or losing our jobs or whatever it is that life throws at us. It is so important to allow ourselves this concept that...life is not easy. It is a challenge every day. And that being the case, we cannot allow it to hold us back! Let go, move on...destroy the ego!

The current

As the season of fall works its way through us...we should consider following the flow of the current. Make space for lightness and rake away the leaves!

Mantra Meditation. Oct 21 at Jai Yoga Arts

Mantra Meditation
with Gadadhara Pandit Dasa

Pandit is back by popular demand to give a very special workshop on Mantra Meditation. Come experience the calm sense of empowerment mantra meditation can provide you.  Beginners welcome!
Click here for details! $9

Sunday, October 21st
4:30pm-5:30pm

YAY...3 months of awesomeness in Muay Thai!

Met by Master Cheetah in San Francisco, Arjan Jud arrived in the US this evening! On October 8th Arjan Jud arrives at Five Points for 3 months as trainer-in-residence. Want to learn from the trainer of such legends as Buakaw, Namsaknoi, Chok Dee and many more? He’s as close as Canal and Broadway in Manhattan:)

Team Brenda is on for Saturday...Hamburg, PA...watch out!!

Head in the clouds

The fog really helps you draw inward and find a little bit of peace in quiet before the city wakes up.

The working of change

"Shiva Energy" is what one of my Yoga teachers refers to as the energy of destruction. There is this natural movement of things towards destruction in order for change and rebirth. We can look at the ideas of death and destruction as negative but they are a way of wiping the slate clean for us. We can start all over again. And change cannot truly happen without the actions of leveling and letting go completely. This is an important concept because in order for life to go on we have to have change. If things stay the same they are motionless and stagnant -the opposite of life. There is this idea we talk about in Yoga a lot about "surrendering" and "trusting the universe". The season of fall brings about this strong energy of change and if we don't surrender to it, or go with the flow...it only makes things more difficult. If we become rigid and fight it, we start to find that we're tiring ourselves out, fighting the inevitable. Its important to trust the decisions that we've made that are now coming into play. At the same time the Fall is metal energy which is also has to do with refining. Its the working of change. It is deciding what is absolutely necessary and what is absolutely unneeded and getting rid of it. It is being strong and decisive and cutting off the waste and only keep what is pure.

In celebration of Mid-Autumn Moon Festival

Look at these amazing Triangles!

Rooftop Yoga

Trikonasana

Time for Change!

Fall is a major time of change. Maybe you've noticed weird unsettling feelings or just an urge to purge your apartment. It's a great time for us to make some definite decisions and embrace the idea of just allowing things go through their cycles of change and transformation. Sometimes when we don't let go of the summer...we still walk around in shorts and end up catching a cold! Its important to move with the natural progression of the changes and also to find the places where you, yourself need to make these changes.

In other news...slight schedule changes in Yoga this week. There is no rooftop class Friday morning -bad weather! And for those of you planning to go to Jai for 4:30pm class on Saturday...I won't be teaching, but you'll be in for a big treat because Katherine, my sub is great!

San Genarro Festival

Ege tuning up his Sitar for Yoga class.

Ege and his Sitar

Tomorrow! Live Sitar by Egeman Sanli

I have taught class twice with Ege playing Sitar. UHM...totally amazing class! He is awesome. If you'd like to come its only $7 for your first class! Register to save your spot here: Jai

Nature is cool!

10 Beautiful things created by animals.

Find lightness without going to outerspace.

Sometimes we think ideas like Sattva or lightness as the place where we want to be. It seems so AMAZING! But it may not be in our path in life to...give up our material things and attachments and become a monk...right? Sattva is a natural state that we come to...just like Rajas -energeticness or Tamas -inertia. We all run through phases of life and environment that leads towards one guna more than the other but ultimately the world is made up of all 3 and its about finding the balance between them. There is a natural time and place for each one to dominate and when we're out of balance we can feel that the Rajas is making us anxious or manic...and too much Tamas can be excessively lazy or even depression. Many people think too much Sattva can't be bad! Its the goal we're trying to reach isn't it? No...too much Sattva is living in outer space, as I like to call it. Not connected to the ground and floating away from the earth. Its lovely to go up there but not a natural state for us to be there all the time. High on weed...ALL THE TIME. It maybe be a happy place but how does it fit in to the world around you? Don't get me wrong...there are plenty of people who this works for! But most of us...its just not the way to go. There

Its easy to think that the monk or whoever who has given up their attachments and lives in an ashram is experiencing this outer space like Sattva all the time...I don't think that's true. I think for them that is their path in life -their natural state of balance. And though in comparison to our regular lives it may look ultra Sattvic but I am sure to them its just every day normal and balanced.

I bounce between Rajas and Tamas in extremes sometimes...that I have to remind myself to seek a little Sattva. I find lightness in my rooftop yoga class at 200 Water Street. We're high up closer to the sky and we're only up there for an hour or so. :) If you're interested in class, we hold class on Wed and Fri mornings 8-9am $15.

200 Water Street roof top yoga!

Free Community Acupuncture at Pacific College

Pacific College-NY students will be offering

12 FREE COMMUNITY ACUPUNCTURE CLINICS
this term at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine
Through Auricular and Grand Rounds classes.

You are welcome to come have a treatment, and to invite friends,
colleagues,
and patients to join us on the 5th floor.

Ear Acupuncture for the Whole Body
Friday eve                Oct 12                        6:30-8:30
Thursday am            Oct 18                        9:30-11:30
Tuesday aft              Oct 16                        1:30-3:30
Thursday am            Oct 25                        9:30-11:30
Friday eve                Oct 26                        6:30-8:30
Tuesday aft-            Oct 23                        1:30-3:30


Body Acupuncture 
Thursday am            Nov 15                      9:30-11:30
Friday eve                Nov 16                      6:30-8:30
Tues aft                    Nov 20                      1:30-3:30
Tues aft                    Nov 27                      1:30-3:30
Thursday am            Nov 29                      9:30-11:30
Friday eve                Nov 30                      6:30-8:30

Free Ear Acupuncture for Relaxation and Rejuvenation will also be offered
at our Oriental Medicine Day Celebration on Friday, October 19th, 5:30-8:30.

Reservations Requested - RSVP to 212.982.3456 X226 starting September 20th


PASS IT ON!

Noise pollution

For anyone living in a big city like New York...have you ever noticed how much noise is going on around? We usually don't notice it, because we've learned to live with it. Part of me believes I don't hear it and therefore my body doesn't respond to it. But the fact of the matter is...our bodies respond to loud noises, especially the sirens, construction clanking and whatever else there is. Our bodies have a stress response to sound. Which will then affect our hormones and immune systems, especially if we're hearing it all the time! Maybe our outward sense just turn off to it..but our internal senses are still picking up the stress signals. Unfortunately, this is life in the big city. It only makes it even more important to take time and find quiet, meditate, read a book, sit under a tree in Central Park or listen to the sound of the water at the pier or beach.

This is why I love teaching my Sunrise Yoga class, having my own early morning Yoga practice and going for a morning run. It is so rare to experience the quietness of the city. If you're out an about between 2-4am you will still encounter the late night club and bar people.  By 7am there are many other joggers or people working out at the gym and even people on their way to work. That time between 5-7am is the perfect time to find stillness. The yogis that come to my Sunrise class come with untainted energy. They're so serene and receptive, as opposed to the yogi's I've taught at other class times when they come in carrying the weight of their entire day. Their energy is sometimes so intense. There is just something about getting up and going to experience that stillness, when the city is not buzzing and vibrating with all its happenings.

Gunas

The 3 Gunas
Sattva -balance harmony, higher spiritual potential
Rajas -energy, action, change, movement
Tamas -darkness, inertia, form and materiality

These Gunas exist in nature. They are the 3 main components of the universe. And as our bodies are a microcosm of that universe, they exist within our body's physiology. We need all 3 of these things in order to find balance in our minds and body. This is the goal of Yoga, to be in balance. When we are in balance our bodies can be in balance, thus the physiological processes our bodies need to undergo are at its most optimal functioning.
 
The relationship between Tamas and Rajas is like having an anchor or tether. This is such an important part of Yoga. In our alignment we have to be grounded or anchored -Tamas, in order for the rest of the body to have movement or to be free -Rajas. When both of these things happen we can feel our minds start to let go and we go into meditation. This is our Sattva. If we don't have Tamas, our Rajas would be out of control and chaotic. If we have too much Tamas it will weigh us down and we'll feel depression, our Rajas will not be strong enough to lift us up and thus be chaotic. It will be difficult to achieve our Sattva. I find that the relationship between Rajas and Tamas are interdependant, one cannot exist without the other and also opposite. As they oppose each other. Together they help create or maintain the Sattva. 

Thank you, rain, for holding out on my Yoga class!

Oh just a little navasana on a Wed morning at 200 Water Street.

Injuries and bad juju

Since the NYT article about Yoga came out, people think yoga can actually..."wreck your body". I know there already have been various "response" articles but I was just thinking about all the people I teach Yoga to. They already have injuries and they come to Yoga because they always say it makes their injuries feel better. I am one of these people as well. One of  my new favorite places to practice is Yoga Union. I always leave the class feeling 2 inches taller AND they even have Yoga classes specifically for Back Care.

I think people in general are injured from life. They have pain from life, their jobs or their bad relationships. We just hold these stressful, frustrating and painful emotions in our bodies and then we are injured. Its all just a case of bad juju.

Make your juju good:
Changing our brains changing ourselves
Meditate with Alan Finger

Don't have bad juju

Come and take my Yoga classes...this just in!

Roof top Yoga Wed mornings 8-9am
at 200 Water Street overlooking the South Street Seaport
Register for classes at Emerge Athletics.

And Live Sitar at Jai!

Try turning your senses inward

Staying present in Yoga is sometimes super easy. It's probably why we all come to class. We drop in, we automatically let go of whatever else is going on and we just do our sun salutations and give ourselves a break from life. If only for 90 minutes. It can change everything. This is why I love starting my day with Yoga. Because if nothing goes right that day, at least the Yoga happened. But we do all have those days where your outside life just invades your practice. OR you just can't let go of what happened at work, you hate the teacher's playlist or voice, and your hands keep slipping on the crappy mat that you rented. UGH. It happens to all of us! The more we practice, the more we can prevent these challenging moments. More importantly the more we practice, the more we can incorporate staying present into our regular life when we need it. This is why I believe, I've always sought out Yoga. And the more I practice the more I really feel like I can use it as a tool when I am feeling anxious or stressed. I can just get into a place where I can imagine being in class and holding and chair pose twist for 5 breathes. Then the 5 breathes are over and I am so much calmer because I stayed with it!

Practicing being in the present moment can do so much good for us! We're so often caught up in what's going around that are senses are constantly "reacting". When we turn ourselves inward we can allow our senses to instead, notice what's going on within ourselves which is the important part! We don't often notice how we feel internally until our body is setting off red flags like pain, discomfort, panic, etc. If we can notice these things before they happen it can become preventative.

Phalli or Sea Lions? Possibly potatoes....

The Yayoi Kusama exhibit at the Whitney is amazing! I have been waiting years to see a show of hers. Obsessive art is so fascinating and awesome to me.

Saw this in 2006 when I visited Singapore

At the Whitney you will see a range of her work from the 1960's until now. Even cooler are the documentations of her 'Happenings'. 

There are several of her pieces of things covered in "Phalli" like a couch and a row boat...also some shoes. I tend to think they mostly look like potatoes. A little girl checking the show out with her mom thought they looked like sea lions. They actually do! 

These are some of my favorite images and works of hers

This is what you do with your silly Whitney Museum sticker after leaving the museum.

  

Pretty things found in Dallas, TX

Sculpture installation at the DMA

A view from the DMA cafe

Installation at the Nasher Sculpture Museum

Pretty wallpaper at the Stoneleigh

Interactive Installation at the Nasher Sculpture Museum

 

 

Stoneleigh

Stoneleigh