Yesterday Compass Yoga, the nonprofit I founded to provide the therapeutic benefits of yoga and meditation to people who otherwise would not have access to the practice, received its first completely unsolicited donation from one of our wonderful students.
In 2013, we are expanding programming to additional branches of the New York Public Library, creating Compass Guides, mini-publications that explain how to use yoga and meditation in a holistic treatment plan for a wide variety of health challenges, and crafting a community health clinic concept to help people discover, learn about, and access alternative care. Donations like the one from our student yesterday will make this work possible.
Vertical staircases at the foot of Mt. Huashan, China
Difficulty is good for us.
Yesterday I was reading an article in Intelligent Life, an Economist publication, entitled “The Uses of Difficulty” by Ian Leslie. He gives examples, mostly from the music industry, that depict challenges and difficulties as gifts that we should seek out, even create, for the benefit of our growth. At first glance this argument sounds like something akin to the benefits of brussels sprouts, but I was intrigued by the argument (and I happen to love brussels sprouts) so I kept reading.
In yoga, we search for that magical space between effort and ease. At first, I thought that’s where Ian was going but he took this idea to a whole new level. He presents scientific evidence that shows we actually benefit cognitively from doing things that are difficult, that do not come naturally to us. The benefits are so stark that he suggests purposely creating difficulty even when we find ease. This theory flies in the face of the idea that we should play to our strengths, or at least the idea that we should always play to our strengths.
This article also has the wheels of my mind spinning around the concept of short-term versus long-term benefits. Should we accept, even relish, short-term challenge because in the long-term it makes us more creative, intelligent, quick, strong, resilient, and, let’s face it, interesting? Is discomfort today worth triumph tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow?
Yoga is an effective way to prevent injuries and shorten recovery times for cyclists. I will lead you through a sequence of yoga poses specifically crafted to benefit cyclists to improve posture, increase flexibility, and build strength. You will also learn several breathing techniques as well as a meditation technique that will enhance focus and endurance.
In addition to the free class, you will be able to take advantage of an exclusive shopping deal that night: 20% off Eastern Mountain Sports merchandise and 15% of all other brands.
I’d love to see your smiling faces so I hope you’ll join me!
“You cannot dream yourself into a character: you must hammer and forge yourself into one.” ~ Henry David Thoreau
Have you ever shied away from doing something because you thought it was too difficult or because someone else told you that what you wanted to do was too hard? This pesky thought creeps into any and every crevice of doubt – about our careers, relationships, passion projects, and any time we are considering a change of any kind. It is the enemy of good decision-making and the only appropriate response to this thought is a loud, strong “Get out and stay out!”
It’s all tough. Everything you want to do in life has challenges. If you are waiting for the seas to part and the obstacles to disintegrate you are wasting your time and undermining your own strength. The path of least resistance that we hear so much about never said anything about a complete lack of resistance.
For a long time I lived with this conflict: I face a lot of challenges in my life and then in yoga class I hear that we shouldn’t struggle because life is supposed to be easy. Then a clear nuisance revealed itself to me. Life is challenging. We are almost always in the midst of difficulty. However, even a troubled road can be traveled with ease.
We can soften around obstacles so that we can navigate our way around them. We can move our attention inward when we need to replenish ourselves after a long day of work. Life may be filled with struggle but that doesn’t mean we have to be strugglers and take on all of the stress and anxiety that comes with that. To travel a hard road, we need strength, courage, stamina, and resilience – all the things that yoga and meditation provide.
So you go right on choosing your deepest, most passionate dreams, regardless of how hard it will be to bring them to life. Be confident in the fact that everything worth doing requires an effort of some kind. The trick is to also find the ease that lets you enjoy the journey and keeps you motivated to stay the course. Need some help with that? Contact me – my pep talks will make that pesky voice of self-doubt head for the hills.
Last night I went to ISHTA Yoga for the first time since Hurricane Sandy hit. I deeply missed my yoga home and being away from it made me realize how important it is for me as a staple in my life. We are so lucky that the studio didn’t incur any damage other than loss of power.
On my way to the studio, I was conscious of how tight and uncomfortable I was. This week I had two interviews for new freelance work that went very well though the preparation days leading up to them left me surprisingly stressed. They are both wonderful jobs and I’m eager to work with these mission-driven organizations. The roles are highly creative and dovetail perfectly with my passion for education.
While I was preparing for these interviews, I also spent a fair amount of my energy getting my head around the difficulties being faced by so many of my fellow New Yorkers in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. It’s as if we are living in two parallel worlds. One in which life is perfectly fine and proceeding as normal, and 5 miles away one that has descended into complete chaos with leveled homes, unbelievable loss of life and valuables, no power, no running water, and no heat. And all of this on the eve of another storm heading our way that may bring us our first dusting of snow and 60 mile per hour winds.
As I settled down onto my mat, I was considering how best to care for an open heart, how to be with people in times of distress without inheriting that stress. It is difficult but it can be done. And the trick is in our roots.
As my teacher, Douglass Stewart, walked into the room and began to talk us through our class. I felt myself release down into the mat, down into the Earth. What I’ve been missing in these past few days is the stability of grounding. Douglass, who always seem to know the perfect thing to say at every moment, asked us to firmly plant ourselves down, through our feet and hands, to feel that the Earth below us is stable and supportive. He asked us to recognize that the further we sink our roots, the higher we can fly. I felt that sentiment so strongly that my eyes began to fill up. That was my missing link.
When we feel like the wind is whipping us around, when we feel like everything around us is swirling at breakneck speed, it’s the ability to root down, to find that which gives us stability and strength, that helps us to rise. I am so grateful to ISHTA for being a part of that which helps me feel rooted so that I can be free and available to be of service, particularly in times of difficulty.
Keep breathing, New York. We’ll get through this together.
Yoga is an effective way to prevent injuries and shorten recovery times for cyclists. I will lead you through a sequence of yoga poses specifically crafted to benefit cyclists to improve posture, increase flexibility, and build strength. You will also learn several breathing techniques as well as a meditation technique that will enhance focus and endurance.
In addition to the free class, you will be able to take advantage of an exclusive shopping deal that night: 20% off Eastern Mountain Sports merchandise and 15% of all other brands.
With great excitement (and a sigh of relief!), I clicked ‘submit’ on Compass Yoga‘s first grant application yesterday. We applied for a 2013 Special Projects Grant from the New York State Health Foundation. A huge thank you to the dedicated and passionate board members as well as our uber-talented teachers and partners who make Compass the beautiful and valuable organization that it is. I am humbled and honored by their support and commitment. Namastes all around!
Maybe it’s the bright, crisp sunshine after days of rain. Maybe it’s the thought of the Chicago marathon from last weekend. Maybe it’s just time. Whatever the reason, yesterday I went back to running.
My yogi friend, Marita, did her final project for our ISHTA yoga training on yoga for runners. As a former competitive runner and someone who’s solely used yoga as exercise for the past few years, I was really intrigued and inspired by her research. After reading her paper, I realized I’m not getting all of the cardio I need for optimum health. For me, the fastest, easiest, and least expensive way to get that cardio is by lacing up my running shoes and hitting the park a couple of times per week.
I haven’t been on a good run for over a year. I hunted around in the back of my closet for my running shoes. I sunk my right foot into my shoe and felt a crunch – it wasn’t my foot that crunched but a dead bug. Maybe it’s been longer than a year since my last run? 🙂
I flushed the dead bug, put on my shoes, and headed out to teach my yoga for seniors class. After the deeply relaxing class, I took off for Central Park, the sun in my face and the wind at my back. My pace was steady, my gait smooth, and my breathing even. I could feel my good ol’ heart pumping, my lungs taking in all the fresh oxygen, and my muscles and bones getting a workout they’ve needed for far too long.
30 minutes flew by and I returned home refreshed and focused to have a productive afternoon. Somehow movement helps us to settle in. I guess when we shake things up, it’s easier to find our groove.
I’ve committed to at least 2 runs and 2 yoga classes per week to keep myself in tip top shape as I continue leaping through a life of my own design. Want to join me in this promise? Tell me about your running and yoga adventures. (And thanks to Marita for inspiring me to get going!)
“What comes from the heart, goes to the heart.” ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge
I’ve been teaching a seniors yoga class for a few weeks and the enrollment is full. One woman in the class recently told me that she has been having terrible insomnia. I asked if she knew why and she told me that her son, her only child, was murdered 2 months ago and so far the investigation hasn’t turned up any leads. My heart broke, and yet I knew I had to be strong for her.
In that moment, I decided to change my class on a dime. I created the class, posture by posture, word by word, for her. By the end of the class, I could feel everyone moving a bit closer to healing. As my teacher, Cheri, always says, we are all healing from something.
I used to think that being a yoga teacher meant to create a sequence of postures, breath work, and meditation techniques. Now I know that my job is to show up, listen, and give the students what they need to be whole. What I give from my heart, goes straight to theirs.
“Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.” ~ Paul Boese
While I was at Elena Brower’s 9/11 memorial yoga class yesterday, this quote kept running through my mind. Is it possible for us to forgive the horrific acts of 9/11, and if so, what would it take?
Forgiveness is one of the hardest things we can do, and it’s not for lack of trying or wanting to be more forgiving. We’ve made forgiveness more difficult for ourselves because too often we think that to forgive means to forget, even though the two have no business sitting alongside one another. The past cannot be undone. We cannot unsee, unlearn, or unhear even the most painful things, even the things we wish we could erase.
But here’s the trick: we learn from all of them, particularly the ones that are difficult for us. And just because we extend forgiveness, it doesn’t mean that we forget the lessons of our pain. It doesn’t mean that we go back to the way things were before we were hurt. It doesn’t mean that we lose the right to feel loss, sorrow, or grief over the things that have harmed us. It gives us permission to feel all of this, and then some.
Forgiveness means that we give ourselves permission to carry on unburdened. We give ourselves permission to smile again, to feel joy, to part the curtains and let the light in again. Forgiveness means that we release what’s heavy and dark from our past to clear space for the blessings that are now upon us. Forgiveness isn’t about “them” and what they did; it’s about us and what we will do going forward.
Yesterday Compass Yoga, the nonprofit I founded to provide the therapeutic benefits of yoga and meditation to people who otherwise would not have access to the practice, received its first completely unsolicited donation from one of our wonderful students.
Christa Avampato 