Month: January 2011

teaching, yoga

Beginning: Compass Yoga Weekly Classes Are Underway

Christa Avampato

This blog is also available as a podcast on Cinch and iTunes.

On Saturday night I was talking to my friend, Allan, about the first weekly yoga class that I was teaching as part of Compass Yoga. Allan is very perceptive – he’s one of those friends who seems to instinctively know exactly the message I need exactly when I need it. “Maybe do less,” he said. “No need to tell them everything you know in one class.” Allan’s comment came out of the blue and I didn’t know I needed to hear that at that moment. As usual, he said just the right thing to wake me up to exactly why I was a bit nervous about the class. I was trying to do too much, so I planned at that moment to do less.

26 gorgeous souls made their way to Pearl Studios NYC for the first weekly Compass Yoga class. I couldn’t have been more honored to be with them and am looking forward to the next one already. It is really a dream for me to start my own classes, and I’m so excited for all of the learning that will come from this new experiment. It’s going to be an adventure, and by far my biggest, brightest new beginning of 2011.

All day I had some butterflies – the jitters that come from all new beginnings. Seeing so many friendly, familiar faces was an enormous help and I have to publicly thank Michael, Sara, Andrew, Brian, Sarah, Pavani, Ujwala, Vipin, Cari, Cindy, Jennilyn, and Erica for their in-person support. And to so many wonderful people who sent me emails, tweets, and good vibes across great distances – I certainly felt the good vibes coming through loud and clear!

The next class is next Sunday, February 6th at 6pm at Pearl Studios – check out the Meetup group or the Compass website for details. Come play!

dreams, teaching, yoga

Beginning: My Weekly Yoga Classes Begin Tonight at 6:00pm

Christa Avampato

This post is also available as a podcast on Cinch and iTunes.

Tonight I begin teaching my first independent weekly yoga class through Compass Yoga. We’ll get together for an hour at 6:00pm tonight at Pearl Studios NYC, 500 8th Ave (between 35th and 36th Streets). I hope you’ll be there to celebrate with us!

This dream of my own weekly class has been a long time coming. After I finished my yoga teacher certification at Sonic Yoga in May, I thought I’d hop onto the audition circuit of yoga studios, get on a sub list, and start teaching the early morning slots on weekdays when the studios needed a filler. As it turned out, the world had a different plan for me.

Class Scheduling
Because I work full-time and have a number of other commitments, I couldn’t even go to most of the auditions (that usually happen during the day, during the week), much less commit to sub for any class need the studios have. Because of my busy schedule, I have to teach my classes on my time. While this was an obstacle to going the traditional route for building a yoga teaching practice in New York, it was an obstacle I needed in order to find my truth in teaching.

Finding Space
Once I had decided that I’d try to build my own practice, I went hunting for a room. A beautiful space, available on Sunday evenings (my preferred teaching time), affordable, with no long-term contract required and the ability to cancel if need be with no penalty. And if they’d take my Amex card and allow me to cancel on very short notice, that would be even better. Centrally located please, with good subway access. I asked for the world and refused to settle. I needed the space for my students to be immaculate. Dozens of visits, phone calls, and emails later, and I found my way to beautiful Pearl Studios NYC. As soon as I saw the studio spaces, I knew I was right to be patient and persistent. You get what you settle for.

Marketing
Marketing the class has taken more time that building the class, especially since I’m on my own to do all of the marketing myself. Much thanks to my MBA from Darden and my work experience, I could create a full 360 degree marketing plan that takes a phased approach. Meetup has been a godsend and my amazing friends and family are helping me to spread the word. I’m more grateful for their support than I could possibly express.

Dreams
On this journey, one lesson became very apparent: we gets the dreams we reach for. I studied the market, put the marketing machine in motion, and dug down deep to find the message for my business that truly resonates with me in the hopes that its authenticity would resonate with others.

The Fun Starts Tonight
So tonight at 6pm, all of the pieces, all of the hard work, and all of that hopes come together to start these high-quality, affordable weekly yoga class. I couldn’t be more excited, and I’ve got some butterflies taking up residence in my tummy, too. This combo must mean I’m on the right path.

I hope to see you there! For more information on the classes, please visit the Meetup Page or the Compass Yoga website.

This blog is part of the 2011 WordPress Post Every Day Challenge.

books, free, goals

Beginning: My One Word Purpose

Christa Avampato

This blog post is also available as a podcast on Cinch and iTunes.

I just finished up Deepak Chopra’s latest book The Soul of Leadership: Unlocking Your Potential for Greatness. At the start of the book, he walks his readers through an exercise that will eventually lead to an individual’s purpose. Ideally, that purpose, or dharma, will be one word. At first, I was skeptical. Being a woman of many words, a fan of words, I didn’t believe I could get my great big beautiful life to fit in just one tiny word.

I love to be proven wrong because when that happens it literally blows my mind. In addition to being a woman of many words, I’m also a woman of strong convictions. That’s how I was raised – to have an opinion. And I just didn’t think that even the wisdom of Dr. Chopra was going to get my life into one word.

Dr. Chopra 1, Christa 0. Or rather, a win for both because he did help me get to a  one-word purpose, so focused, elegant, and simple that it had me skipping around my apartment. After all of my wandering, literally and figuratively, I found a single purpose of being, not doing. Awareness. I am here, on this Earth, in this body, at this time, to wake up. And help others do the same. Awareness is the purpose that underlies everything I do, wherever I am, and whoever I’m with.

I thought a one word purpose would be confining when in fact it is the most liberating thing in the world. I do feel unlocked and I do feel great. just as the book promises in its title. Just saying “awareness” actually helps me to release and let go. It doesn’t feel small at all. It actually feels expansive, like all of a sudden I found a way to take in the whole world without feeling overwhelmed by it.

Do you have a word that conveys your purpose? If not, grab a copy of The Soul of Leadership and take a spin through the exercise. It takes about 30 minutes. I can’t wait to hear what you find!

The image above can be here found here.

This blog is part of the 2011 WordPress Post Every Day Challenge.

dreams, hope

Beginning: What We Have and Hope For

Christa Avampato

This post is also available as a podcast on Cinch and iTunes.

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.” ~ Epicurus

My sister, Weez, posted this quote on her Facebook wall a few weeks ago, and it just happened to be one of those days when I was working on my personal finances, looking at how to chip away at my student debt more quickly. It was one of those moments when I felt particularly poor, which is truly ridiculous since financially I am more than on solid ground. Though no matter how much we have, those moments of not having enough sneak up on us when we least expect them.

This quote had me take a look around my adorable apartment, at my equally adorable dog, and remember just how much wealth I have in family, friends, and projects. I’m so wealthy in these respects that my life can barely hold all of them. I am insanely blessed.

I remember being an undergraduate at Penn, when I truly was poor, putting myself through school with several jobs and a heavy course load. I didn’t want to be rich. I just wanted to have enough to not worry, to not live hand to mouth all the time. It took a lot of faith to keep traveling that road. There really wasn’t a way for me to hop off or turn around. I had committed to this education and I had to see it through, despite the debt (which I now realize is quite minimal in the grand scheme of things thanks to Penn’s incredible financial aid policies.) Education was the only way I could see to build a more comfortable, fearless life. So I trudged along through college, mostly uncomfortable and very scared.

If someone had told me then that I’d have the life I have now, be the person I am now, I wouldn’t have believed them. In the back of my mind I thought this life of so much freedom and independence and possibility would be largely out of reach for me for a very long time. It was only a hope, and not all that long ago. And that memory makes me count my blessings all the more.

What aspects of your life did you once think were only dreams?

This blog is part of the 2011 WordPress Post Every Day Challenge.

learning, teaching, yoga

Beginning: Where the Important Learning Is

Christa Avampato

This post is also available as a free podcast on Cinch and iTunes.

I recently sat down with Jennilyn Carson, the yoga instructor and writer behind Yogadork, one of my favorite blogs and resources for all things yoga. We were talking about the start of my upcoming group classes for Compass Yoga and I mentioned that I wish I had gotten my full teacher certification earlier in my life. She mentioned that she sometimes felt the same way though when that thought crosses her mind she remembers that we are all in just the right place at just the right time.

I have always respected and learned the most from my teachers who have had long and winding roads. They have so much to give as a result of their journey. Prior to my first yoga classes in 2005, I wasn’t ready to teach. And even when I thought I was ready, the adjustment between being a student and being a teacher was far greater than I ever expected. It took me a few years to be comfortable teaching yoga, and then a few more years to enjoy it. I idealized what it would be like to teach for a long time. It was actually a scary, nerve-wracking process when I first started. And though my students said how much they got from the classes, inside I knew I could do even better if I could just internalize my calm exterior that I conveyed in class.

In my early days of teaching, my classes were performances. Now, over 5 years later, my classes have a much different tone. The calm that is conveyed to my students is an inside-out process, not a performance. It reflects my comfort in a classroom and a renewed focus on what the students need, not what I have to give. It wasn’t until my teacher training at Sonic that I learned the yoga classes I give have absolutely nothing to do with me. I’m just there for the students. “My” class isn’t mine at all – it’s theirs. And my only focus now in teaching is to give students exactly the teaching they need exactly at the moment that they need it. It’s an honor to be there with them. That change in perspective, and not just knowing it but conveying it through my teaching, took a long time to evolve.

I was talking to Brian about this very subject on Friday and he used the analogy of a car. We focus so much on how quickly a car can get from 0 to 60, but all of the artistry and power of its mechanics are realized between 0 and 59. Getting to 60 is just the by-product. Our journeys, careers, and teachings are remarkably similar. Getting to that proverbial 60 is certainly an accomplishment, but the foundation and the learning it takes to get there is accomplished in every small step between 0 and 59.

So let’s enjoy the path and celebrate along the way, meandering and winding as it may be. Each step comes to us very purposefully, with a reason for being exactly where it is, exactly when it reveals itself to us.

The image above can be found here.

This blog is part of the 2011 WordPress Post Every Day Challenge.

art, creative process, creativity, gifts, teaching, yoga

Beginning: Build from the Heart

Christa Avampato

This post is available as a free podcast on Cinch and iTunes.

“If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing.” ~Marc Chagall

I love Marc Chagall’s windows. I remember walking through building after building in France to see and feel how much beautiful light filters through them. They aren’t something we look at; they are works that we experience. There is so much heart in each tiny space.

I thought about this quote of his as I put together the sequences for my upcoming yoga classes for Compass Yoga. I work with a loose structure when I create classes, starting with an energetic quality and an intention, and then growing from there. That way the poses fit together well and give students a more holistic experience. That’s the method I’ve seen work best for the students I teach. It feels like a more authentic way for me to give.

Sometimes when I begin building a new sequence, I can feel choked up, stuck, as if I have never done a yoga posture before. It’s a manifestation of a form of stage fright that I’ve heard some performers describe – right before they begin a song or a scene their minds go completely blank. When I was a performer, it used to happen to me all the time. It can be unnerving so when that happens I stop and breath and remember that this practice comes much more from the heart than the mind.

To create a class is to create a gift, and the process of its creation is something that makes me even more grateful than the actual end-product. I remember what a treasure it is to be here, on this mat, at this moment, building something for people that will bring them joy and peace and a brief time to self-nurture.

How does the process of creation work for you? When do you feel you’re really building from the heart?

The photo above depicts Chagall’s windows in the Reims Cathedral in Paris.

This blog is part of the 2011 WordPress Post Every Day Challenge.

courage, fear

Doing the Impossible

Christa Avampato

This post is available as a free podcast on Cinch and iTunes.

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you stop to look fear in the face. … You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

“Are your projects as “Mad” as the Mad Times demand?” ~ Tom Peters

I went to interview for a freelance project a few weeks ago. When I dug a little deeper, the project being sold was not a project I wanted though just going through the process of applying gave me an interesting insight. For a moment at the beginning of the conversation, I began to wonder if I could really do the project I applied for. Maybe I didn’t have quite enough experience yet. Maybe I needed to gain just a bit more knowledge than I already have.

I do this a lot. I go to my edge and then get frightened that I’m in way over my head. But it’s those moment when I was way under water that I learned the most about my capabilities and where I gained the most confidence. The mad ideas, the ones that really out there are the ones that made a difference; they’re the ones that gave me the most joy because they were the most fun. They also appeal to my internal rebel.

To really live, to be in this world for the sheer experience of being alive, requires a certain fearlessness in the face of everything we should be afraid of. We live in wild and crazy times, and we need wild and crazy ideas to make any headway. Living at the edge and pushing the boundaries is the only way to grow. We aren’t born with a slip in hand that tells us what our potential is. We won’t know our potential until we really test ourselves and begin the very projects that we think we cannot do, the ones that we think are much too big.

What are the dreams that you think are too mad, too far out there, too difficult to accomplish? Put your energy there.

The image above can be found here.

This blog is part of the 2011 WordPress Post Every Day Challenge.

dreams, talents

You Have The Makings of a Cathedral

Christa Avampato

This post is available as a podcast on Cinch and iTunes.

“A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.” ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery

We’ve all got rock piles in our lives – raw material lying around begging for use and purpose. Skills, connections, passions, new and creative ideas that turn reality on its head. Some we’re starting to tap and develop, and some are waiting for their turn in the lime light of our attention.

This raw material takes on a certain kind of magic when we consider how we can bind it all together into something we are proud to take out into the world. It’s that book you’ve wanted to write, that class you’ve wanted to give, that piece of art that lies dormant in a blank canvas longing for color. We have this terrible habit of comparing ourselves to all of the other people in the world with our same talents and interests, wondering how we can possibly carve out a little space where our unique voice can be heard. That habit creates fear, which leaves so much work undone. To quote John Lennon, “too many people die with the music still in them.”

This image of a cathedral builder is an inspirational one. It represents hope and confidence in our ability to do and be something extraordinary, to make a powerful, lasting, and meaningful contribution to the world. All this raw material can be transformed the moment we take a different perspective and begin to see the raw material as a resource to live our best lives.

Tell me, what is the cathedral you hope to build?

The image above depicts the cathedral in Salamanca, Spain. I wish there had been a photo credit with it but I couldn’t find one. Can you believe how much light it holds?

This blog is part of the 2011 WordPress Post Every Day Challenge.

meditation, yoga

Beginning: Free 21-day Meditation Challenge With The Chopra Center

Christa Avampato

Earlier this month I heard Dr. Deepak Chopra speak about his new book, The Soul of Leadership. I was so inspired by that talk that I noodled around on his website for a good, long time and eventually found my way to his posting about his free 21-day Meditation Challenge. I’ve been participating in the 21-day Yoga Challenge with Yoga Journal and have found it to be incredibly beneficial to my practice and my teaching. I am certain that this 21-day Meditation Challenge will do the same.

If you’ve ever wanted to give meditation a try, been facing some difficulties setting up a regular mediation practice, or have a regular practice that you want to strengthen, let’s give this a try together and see what we find. It kicks off tomorrow, January 24th, and includes daily, guided meditations with davidji, the master meditation teacher and dean of Chopra Center University. All of the meditations are online so you can participate no matter where you live. All you need is an internet connection and a quiet place to sit and be. Sign up here.

This blog is part of the 2011 WordPress Post Every Day Challenge.

fiction, writing

Beginning: Strange As Fiction

Christa Avampato

This post is available as a podcast on Cinch and iTunes.

“Writing is my vacation from living.” ~ Eugene O’Neill via Quotes4Writers

“Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.” ~ E L Doctorow via Quotes4Writers

Fiction writing is difficult for me. Writing directly from my life in the first person as I do on this blog is far easier. Fiction writing is really an act of faith, fumbling around in the dark, not quite sure where it’s going, or how or even why. The characters are strangers to the writer at the beginning of the project and they’re family by the end of it.

Over the past month I’ve been working on some fiction writing. Actually bits and pieces of it have been in the making for a number of years. First as a series of short stories I played around with, then as the start of several different complete stories that I thought may eventually see the light of day. Then as I was out running some errands this afternoon, I realized that all these stories actually hang together, that all of these characters that I thought were so separate actually live near one another and their lives will cross and re-cross in ways that I didn’t realize as I was writing each smaller, separate piece. And that meshing together got me jazzed to learn more about them.

Sounds crazy doesn’t it? Fiction writing is a crazy process. I don’t understand all of its inner workings, how stories and characters and through lines come together into a cohesive whole. There’s a little magic thrown in for certain. Our imaginations are wondrous, wild, and precious things.

I do know that fiction writing stokes my creativity more than non-fiction writing. It scares me in the same way that meeting new people can sometimes be scary. We have to take a chance on these characters, and sometimes they disappoint us and hold up a mirror to us so that we see things about ourselves that we would really prefer to ignore.

I’ve tried to let them go sometimes, but I can’t. Years later, despite my neglect, these characters are still hanging around my writing door, determined to stay there until I let them in, give them some tea, and get to know their stories. They are stubborn and will not be silenced. I appreciate those traits. I’m the same way, so I’ve decided to let them have their say. Pen to paper, taking dictation.

This blog is part of the 2011 WordPress Post Every Day Challenge.