Gaze to the past and present

Today I did a photo shoot with Paula and it brought back so many memories. Memories of Tuesday morning practices with Paula, practices with my babies, doing other promotional shoots for her, and fun shoots with my kids, which means not all of these poses have perfect alignment, but I chose these for the emotions they evoke. I wanted to put up some of my favorite pictures through the years that have been caught on camera.

Daniel came over and sat on me when I was a few months pregnant with Emma 

Paula had a photographer come out and take some pictures for the studio, we ended up having some fun with some poses.

 Daniel loves to sit on my bolster and pretend it is a Train. 

I loved doing headstand while pregnant. 

Carolyn Belko helped me all throughout my pregnancy with Emma. This was one of my favorite poses to be in.

Emma came out practically knowing what yoga props were. 

 We had a makeshift yoga photo session with the two kids one day. There is nothing more fun than playing with the kids.

 It was a snowy day in DC when we had finally finished shoveling all the snow I decided to measure the snow in my own special way.

 Yoga while pregnant with Michael. One of my best Adho Mukha Svanasana.           

                                                                                                                                                               The kids like to make things, today was a train.

Bringing babies to see Carolyn has always been a highlight of my yoga career. I will miss it.

 Yoga isn't always this cute, but when it is you have to have a picture. 

 This is the first time I have been able to do this pose in years. I was very excited to have this pose back in my sequencing!

The kids often play with me as they wait for their dad and my yoga class to start!

Emma's behind the scenes today!

Virasana

Virasana

Hero's pose

Seated pose

Key Benefits

• cures rheumatic pains in knees
• relieves gout
• helps achieve shapely arches, ideal for pain in feet, calves and feel for calcaneal spurs and coldness in feet
• good for those who work in water or stand for hours on feet and inflammation of blood vessels
• done with ease on cycle
• can be done immediately after food and will relieve heaviness in stomach

How to get into Virasana

1. Kneel on floor knees together feet just wider than hip distance lean forward and place head on floor. 
2. Take your fingers behind your knees and with your fingers move your calf muscle down your leg towards your ankle and out towards your outer leg as you sit back between your feet. 

Key Points

1. Press all ten toes, the top of the feet, and the shins into the floor as you extend your torso towards the ceiling. 
2. Lengthen your thighs towards your knees and move your tailbone into the body. 
3. Release the groins down and extend the arms towards the knees
4. Open the chest and move the shoulders away from the ears.  
5. Look forward and keep the back of the head in line with the sacrum. 

Modifications:

• Place a blanket under the buttocks in between your feet lifting the sit bones higher
• turn feet inwards in weight can't be placed on ankles and metatarsals

Virasana Cycle

Parvatasana in Virasana

1. Interlace the fingers in Baddhanguliasana and bring the arms up over the head pressing the finger mounds towards the ceiling and bringing the thumb and pinkies towards the ground. 

2. Maintain weight in the sit bones and the tailbone in the body as you extend from the inner arm through the arms to the wrist and rotate the outer arm in. 

3. Keep the shoulders away from the ear and lift the sternum. Release and change the interlock. 

Twist in Virasana

1. Take the left hand to the right thigh and the right hand behind the right hip, press into the shins and sit bones, lift the torso and turn.
2. Rotate the ribs from the left towards the right letting the head follow as you lift the sternum. Release and change sides

Adho Mukha Virasana

1. For an easier pose, take the knees apart and bring the toes together. For a more advanced pose keep the feet where they are and just bring the knees apart.
2. From the front of the hip crease bend for
ward keeping the hips on the heels and walk the hands forward till the head rests on the ground or a brick keeping the hips on the heels.
3. Press into the hands so weight stays in the heels and rotate the inner arms out.

Exciting News!

Two great announcements!

First I will be holding a free monthly intro to yoga class at Yoga Space on a Saturday. Time and which Saturday is yet to be determined. I will update when we set the class on the schedule.

Secondly, I am going to start creating 30 min Iyengar level 1 and level 2 sequences that you can do from home.

I know how hard it can be to leave your house, especially if you have little kids. I know how hard it can be to pay for a weekly yoga class, especially if you have to pay for a babysitter. I know how frustrating it can be if the only yoga you can take is from a yoga teacher you don't know because that is who teaches at your gym.

I know you want to do yoga.

I know the benefits of yoga. I have read studies, I have witnessed its effects in my life, and I have seen it change others. I want to bring yoga to you.

So starting soon you will grab your mat, maybe a yoga block or two and come do yoga with me!

Until then, enjoy these videos taken by my son of standing poses level 1 and level 2 sequences will contain.

Level 1 vs Level 2

Tues nights starting Oct 10th I will be teaching a Level 1 and a Level 2. I want to explain the differences of the classes so you can see which class is best for you.

I teach both classes in progressive manner so each week builds on the previous week, linking what you are learning throughout the month. Allowing you to perfect new poses and really focus on certain aspects of your yoga practice.

In Level 1 each week the emphasis is on standing poses, as these are the foundation of all of our yoga practice for the rest of our lives. Later in the year we start to incorporate the same schedule as Level 2.

In Level 2 each week of the month has a focus
Week 1- Standing poses
Week 2- Forward bends/ abdominal
Week 3- Back bends/ abdominal
Week 4- Restorative

Level 1- Brand new beginners, those coming back, those with injuries

• basic standing poses, balancing, and forward extensions 
• seated poses
• introduction to forward bends
• introduction to backbends
• inversions
• shoulder stand sequence
• restorative inversions
• twists
• restorative
• learn how to relax your body at home, or on your cycle

Level 2- those who can hold shoulder stand for around 5 min

• more advanced standing poses
• twisted and balancing poses
• seated poses
• forward bends
• introduction to abdominals
• back bends- including
• camel pose
• back bend in the chair 
• inversions.
• headstand
• expanding shoulder stand sequence 
• more advanced twists
• restorative- continuation of level 1

Children's yoga and Katie's Karate Class

Once a month I get to teach a children's yoga class as part of an art cooperative program. The class is small, but fun to do. I have to be creative in how I teach and make sure I am presenting my material in almost a non yogic way, as I know some parents have concerns about yoga. So all poses are talked about in Animal, shapes, nature names. We count while we hold poses, and just as we do in my adult classes we have a focus for the class, but there is nothing to stop us from throwing in a few back bends to our standing pose class. :)

I want to teach more children yoga classes but they are hard to teach with my little ones in the way, hopefully as the kids get older I will be able to teach more of them.

I was approached this week about writing a review about a new children's yoga book. I LOVE children's yoga books. I think I have 4 or 5 in my house. I am very picky, I want the story to flow about yoga, and I want to see poses that make a good sequence that my family can practice. I also want pictures that show poses accurately.

I know, I am easy to please right? Well this book was very cute.

I was a little skeptical at first, ok very skeptical at how the Karate and yoga would work together. To me Yoga is yoga. Not pilates, not power yoga, not hot yoga. But the story was very well written and very cute. It tells of a little girl who is scared to start something new, and she uses the comfort of her yoga to give her the confidence to try it.

There are not many poses shown, so I would not buy this book for a sequencing book, but rather a book that shows how yoga can influence other aspects of our lives. The few poses that are included are basic, and the pictures are appropriate.

Overall I would not buy this book myself, as it is not what I am looking for in a yoga book, but it is a really cute book that fills other needs.

Where to go from here

I am now a Certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher. As my husband asked me so nicely asked me, so what?

Well that is a great question. Becoming Certified means I can actually call myself an Iyengar Certified Teacher and use their Logo. It comes with great pride, and validates who I am as a teacher.

But where do I go from here?
What I really want to be able to do is teach Prenatal Yoga and ASL Yoga, with the understanding that I would become an ASL Interpreter, or work within the Deaf Community. I really like the idea of helping families know, understand and choose educational goals that will help their children succeed.

I would like to see Iyengar Yoga visible within in the Deaf community, make ASL yoga videos to put on YouTube, my website, and on my blog. Iyengar Yoga is such a powerful tool to heal the body and mind that it is not just a work out. Although I did lose all of my baby weight doing solely Iyengar Yoga, it is not an easy work out.

While the kids are young I would like to work for a virtual interpreting company, where you interpret over a camera. That way I can work remotely, that is such a huge pull for me. It is one reason why I love working for Inspire Charter School. The other being that the school empowers families, staff and businesses to help the students to succeed I could not resist handing in my resume and begging to work for this company.

Maybe after my children are all established at school I will go to more traditional  interpreting position, or find that job that will allow me to serve those vulnerable in the Deaf community, our children. Without a real grasp on a 1st language their ability to succeed lessens, I want families to know what resources are available to them. But finding this job, may take some creative searching.

In the next few years, after I have been able to focus on learning ASL my attention will be able to turn back to going up for my next assessment. I have to wait 2 years before I can go up. I will probably wait 3, to give my family some breathing room. Once becoming a Junior 1, I wait another year (or 2) to become a Junior 2 and then I can finally teach pre-natal Yoga. Bakersfield needs a good pre-natal yoga teacher, and I loved being pregnant and doing yoga, so why not me? This is my goal for yoga. I can teach pre-natal classes at Yoga Space and at Doctor offices around town.

My road is not yet finished, it has just started. For the next 5 years I will be studying, learning, and preparing to help those that live in and around Bakersfield CA.

The Red King

Introducing, "The Red King". by Great Aunt Mabel Hutchinson. The perfect size for my small house.

It is a carpentry sculpture made in 1963 that she created from scraps of wood, like the picture of her working on a piece below. She made all sorts of furniture and one of her Doors, done in this fashion was even in an International Door Exhibit in Europe. 

The last month my mom and dad emptied out my grandma Barbara's storage shed in Tehachapi. It was like a treasure chest. Furniture from the 50's-70's, artwork, books, and family heirlooms. This sculpture/ totem was hidden away and I was fortunate enough to receive it. 

My Great Aunt Mabel was an artist, apparently skipped me, as much as I would love to be an artist I did not get that talent. but I have hope for my children. Mabel worked in  watercolors and carpentry. I grew up with one of her tables, large, heavy and ornate. It was something I loved to look at. And marveled at her talent, I had no idea how much she made or how well known she was until recently. I feel honored to have her work in my house.