Category: yoga

yoga

Beginning: Thoughts on the Conclusion of the 21-day Yoga Challenge with Yoga Journal

Christa Avampato


I’ve not historically been a huge fan of yoga by video. It seemed impersonal and cold to me as a student. Given the incredible experience I had being part of the Yoga Journal 21-day Yoga Challenge this year, my mind and heart have been changed. Through the videos, delivered by an expert team of amazing instructors, I felt my heart open wider, my hamstrings release further, and my sequences take on more creativity. The classes were every bit as good as most yoga classes I’ve taken in studios.

This experience also made me giddy when I think about all of the possibilities given the incredible enhancements now available in affordable video and the functionality of live chats and social media sharing. Now it’s possible to be with instructors we admire and respect and share our experience with others regardless of geographic location. We now have the ability to broadcast yoga effectively and cost-effectively rather than the traditional narrowcast paradigm of expensive studios. The wheels of my mind are turning, turning, turning…

If you took part in the challenge, too, how did it go? I’d love to hear about your experience. If you missed it, never fear – the videos are still available online here. Take a look and let me know what you think!

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

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.

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.

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.

health, hospital, yoga

Teaching Yoga in Geriatric Psych at New York Methodist Hospital

Christa Avampato

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

“The years teach much which the days never knew.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Last week, I went to New York Methodist Hospital to meet with the Recreational Therapist in the Geriatric Psych Department. She was interested in having a yoga instructor come into the department to do chair yoga with the patients that have the mobility to exercise. The Department is an acute care facility, meaning that patients are there following some incident that requires close monitoring by a medical staff. Their average length of stay is 3 weeks, and many of the patients are in their 70s and 80s.

I had my first class today with a small group of patients. “We don’t allow children here,” said Wesley*. In the next breath be threatened to kill me (in words only – he is physically harmless and apparently says that to everyone). He read the paper cover to cover every day of his life. Now he can no longer read (that is one of the saddest parts of dementia to me) though still insists on leafing through the paper and cutting out pictures that interest him. Another patient, Lola, told me she is 4 months pregnant and going home tomorrow. Minnie, the most coherent of the group, rolled her eyes at every comment made by the other patients. There was something both sweet and sad about the class.

My emotions on the train back to Manhattan were complex and jumbled. I’m fascinated by how the brain functions (or malfunctions), and supremely interested in how yoga, meditation, and breath work can alter the brain’s long-term health. “Where did they do?” I kept asking myself. Why can’t Wesley read any more? Why does this beautiful, blessed machine of a brain have to unravel?

If I could find a way to use yoga to help a mind stay calm and balanced and among us just a little while longer, then I would consider myself so lucky to have done work worth doing.

* All names have been changed to protect the patients’ confidentiality.

guest blogger, health, meditation, wellness, yoga

My Guest Post on Betterfly Today: Overcoming Insomnia with Yoga and Meditation

Christa Avampato

Lauren Margolis, blog maven over at Betterfly, a community of individual Betterists who help you look, feel, and live your best life. Lauren reached out to me after reading my blog and asked if I’d write a guest post for the Betterfly blog. I jumped at the chance to share my story about how yoga, meditation, and some additional evening rituals help me to unwind and get a good night’s sleep after years of insomnia.

Check out the guest post here. I also have a Betterist profile on Betterfly. It’s free to create a profile and search for coaches and instructors of all kinds on Betterfly – come visit us!

books, leadership, meditation, yoga

Beginning: Deepak Chopra and The Soul of Leadership

Christa Avampato

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

“You are the mighty ocean in the drop.” ~ Rumi

“Leaders need to be reminders to their people of their own dreams.” ~ Dr. Deepak Chopra

On Monday night I attended an event put on by Inc Magazine at the Morgan Stanley headquarters. Dr. Chopra has written a new book, The Soul of Leadership: Unlocking Your Potential for Greatness. Yes, it’s an insightful read if you’re a CEO though it’s equally as helpful for those who see themselves as the CEO of their own lives, which is to say it’s a book for everyone.

There was so much information delivered in the hour-long event that I’m still processing a good deal of it for future posts. The quotes above are the ones that keep coming to the surface of my thoughts. It’s so easy to just imagine that we are only one small soul is a vast sea. Rumi, in his endlessly comforting words, says no, you, just as you are, have within in you as much potential as that vast sea. Your contributions, thoughts, ideas, and dreams matter a great deal. Your dreams, give rise to the dreams of others, and when living your dreams, you are inspiring others to do the same. Like passing a candle, your light gives light to others.

As Dr. Chopra continued to talk about the need for a wisdom-based society and the need to return to our role as human beings instead of human doings, he advocated for meditation and yoga. He talked about the need to stop the inner dialogue so that the wise creativity within us will spontaneously rise to the surface. The wisdom we need already lies within us if only we will quiet the mind long enough to hear it. This idea made me see meditation and yoga not as just healthy rituals, but as a necessary practice for reaching our own potential.

The idea I kept returning to was one of connection. We are now all linked across oceans and continents in a closer, more intimate way than we have ever been before. We will only grow closer as technology becomes more sophisticated and wide-spread. How we run our lives and our communities has great impacts in every other corner of the world. “No karmic debt ever goes unpaid. It is the only perfect accounting system,” Dr. Chopra said. How we treat each other, inspire each other, and encourage each other could mean a better world for all of us. And if we don’t nuture one another, then the consequences are dire. Our connection to one another will be our demise or our savior, and that outcome is largely determined by us.

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

patience, success, yoga

Let’s Begin: Building a Practice Takes Patience

Christa Avampato

This post is available as a podcast on Cinch.

“It takes twenty years to become an overnight success.” ~ Eddie Cantor

“All of the effort you’ve put in could be wasted by giving up just a moment too soon.” ~ Seth Simonds

On Friday I met with Brian after a few weeks off due to the holidays. I told him about starting my own weekly yoga classes on January 30th and asked him how he managed having an independent counseling and coaching practice. Brian spent many years working for other people and eventually had a job that encouraged him to step out on his own. His business has grown by word-of-mouth to the point that he can’t take any more clients now. His calendar is full.

Brian is thrilled that I’ve chosen to try to make a-go of Compass Yoga on my own. This is exactly the type of new beginning that he and I have been working toward in my coaching – the confidence to help me realize that going my own way is the best path for me. It’s the path I was meant for, where I can give the very best of myself, where I can do the most good. And his most important piece of advice on this path: “Have patience. It takes time. Don’t give up.”

Patience is a hard one for me. I want to get where I want to be now – I’m the box in the middle of the cartoon above. So the quote above by Eddie Cantor helped. In our society, we witness an enormous number of overnight success stories thanks to YouTube and a variety of televised talent shows, or at least that’s how they’re portrayed. Dig a little deeper and we find that any lasting overnight success really was preceded by many, many years of very hard work that wasn’t always recognized or appreciated. They persevered because they got energy from the journey. Even if success never comes, they still feel fulfilled because they provided something of real value. Success is just the by-product of doing what they were meant to do, of the help they were able to provide.

When I keep that idea in mind, the fear of going my own way subsides a bit, or at least long enough to help me get through the next step of setting up my class. And when the fear finds me again, I remember to breath, and smile, and keep moving. For more information my group yoga classes starting at 6pm on January 30th, check out the Meetup page for the class.

How do you grapple with fear when you’re working on something that you care about? How do you keep going in spite of the fear?

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