Yoga....a spiritual practice

I just got asked to fill out these questions for my friend that is taking an integrated health class....thought I would share.
Namaste,
Michele


1. What instinctively comes to your mind when asked what "yoga" means?

Yoga for me is a practice of going within.......connecting with my innerself...and most importantly how everything is connected.

2. How did you initially become involved in the practice of yoga?

I took my first yoga class when I was in college as a junior.....I was about 20 in 1986.
I took it because I thought it would be an easy class for me to breeze through and get an "A" since I was doing aerobics so much.
I actually found it more challenging than aerobics.....it was very hard for me to get quiet and to focus.
I did not try anything like that again until 1994 when I was depressed, anxious and basically just a mess. My aunt suggested that I read a book by Jon Kabat-Zinn called "Where ever you go, there you are." It was a book about learning to be mindful. In the back of the book, it had an order form to order cassette tapes which contained two 45 minutes meditations and two 45 minute yoga practices. Those cassettes changed my life.....I did them daily for years....and eventually got them on cd.



3. How have you learned the technical ins and outs of yoga? What is your instructional history?

Yes....I always could learn more though.....I love going to any kind of yoga workshop, I get the yoga journal and subscribe to a few yoga instructors online newsletters.

My instructional history includes 2 week long yoga workshops with Linda Lalita Winnick. http://www.shaktiyogawoodstock.com/Instructors.html#anchorc8f1c787
Both workshops were 40 hours each.

and a weekend workshop with Todd Norian.
http://www.deeppeaceyoga.com/about/todd.htm

I also still practice weekly in a formal group with my favorite teacher and mentor: Shirley Weimer
http://www.noyoyoga.com/about.asp

and try to practice on my own daily.

4. What does the practice of teaching others yoga bring to your own life?
It brings me much peace. I can be having a stressful day and the moment that I sit down with the kids to do yoga with them at work, my entire pace changes. I practice yoga a lot on my own, but there is something about the powerful energy that is created when we all sit down and breath and move together. I really think it helps with world peace. You can see it on a very small level with the kids that I work with and how the unit tone changes after a yoga class.

5. How has yoga changed you/impacted your life?
Yoga has for sure changed my life!!!! It has brought me much peace. I feel very mindful after practicing yoga and my whole world slows down. It helps me focus on what really matters in life.
Life is about constantly adapting to change and yoga practice helps connect me to the one thing that does not change and that is my inner connection to spirit.


6. What are your thoughts on the idea of mind/body/spirit connectedness?

You can not separate them. It is my belief that it is all is one and the universe is unfolding just as it should. Things happen on the outside to grow our soul on the inside.....you have to find peace with that somehow.

7. How has yoga impacted your physical well being?
I am flexible and hope to continue to demonstrate more flexibility. I feel more focused and able to concentrate.
8. What ailments/personal struggles have you witnessed yoga be an intervention for?

Back Pain.....I have a weird posture and yoga has healed any kind of pain that I have.
TMJ......even my dentist is amazed.
Anxiety and depression.........



9. What is your opinion of yoga's evolution within our current society?

People use to laugh at me when I said I do yoga in the mid 90's.
I know I laughed at it in the mid 80's and thought it would be a breeze.
Now it is a common practice and not viewed as odd at all.
When I teach yoga to the kids at work usually at least half in the class has tried yoga or had yoga in a gym class or something.
A lot of times I think people join to get in shape and come out with a feeling of spirituality somehow. A co-worker just talked about this happening with his wife.

10. Do you utilize any other alternative/traditional health practices that you care to share?

I take a lot of vitamins and nutritional supplements....we eat organically and try to stay away from red meat, processed foods, white sugar, white rice and white refined flour....doesn't always work when you are on the go a lot and raising kids.

My kids are not fully vaccinated. I do vaccinate but at a much slower pace and with much fewer vaccines than what is pushed and mandated in society.

Meditation.........it has changed my life.....my husband and my kids have learned to do meditations which they have stored on their ipods when they feel stressed too.

Reiki.....I am a level two reiki practitioner.

11. How do you stay balanced in your life?

Here is my prescription that works for me........

Yoga and meditation daily

jogging 3 miles 4 days per week

nutrition...no white sugar, white rice or white refined flour (I try anyway)

limited processed foods and red meat

vitamins and supplements

HUMOR and LAUGHTER

eating a family meal together daily even if we have to eat at 430

camping and walking outside in nature

family time

being with my pets.....pet therapy

music and spiritual readings such as wayne dyer, caroline myss

being/talking/emailing with friends

creativity....my blog is a big creative outlet for me

employment....having a job where I feel I make a difference and help others