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So it’s that time again. Time for the Yoga Playlist of the Month. This month I have decided to post a restorative yoga playlist.  So grab your bolster and your mat and make some time to mellow out. This playlist is also good for relaxation or stress release. Maybe some good music to listen to while taking a relaxing bath?

Restorative Yoga (Nice for a 50-60 min Mellow Practice or Restorative Practice)

Tibetan Singing Bowls (Tibetan Music for Meditation)

Shree Ram (Wah!)

Durge (Shantala)

Golden Kami (Raya Yoga for Positive Thinking)

Jai Radha Madhav (Deva Premal and Miten)

Radha Ramana Hari (Wah!)

Meditation (Healing Flute Chakras)

Gayatri (Girish)

Mahadeva (Jai Uttal)

Many times in our yoga class we hear a song that resonates deep within us. Maybe it’s the lyrics, maybe it’s a moving melody. As a music therapist and yoga teacher I spend a lot of time choosing not only the songs I use for class, but the exact moment in the practice when you will hear a particular song. The music has to coordinate with just the right energy in the practice otherwise it’s just distracting. Right?
Students ask me all the time where do I find my music for class? It’s not like Krishna Das is played on the Zepher every day. I know it was a challenge when I was a student to find the songs that I heard in yoga class. Half the time the name of the song wasn’t even something I could pronounce not to mention spell. I would get home and sit at my computer for hours to try and find that song I heard in yoga that I enjoyed so much during pigeon pose. I thought to myself maybe I would like to clean my house while listening to some of those songs with all of the Ram’s and the spirited drumming. If I could only remember the name of the chorus?? I would Google yoga music and nothing I came up with on my search was quite right.
Eventually I learned the names of the songs and I-Tunes Genius Function began suggesting more songs that I “might like’. So I thought I would give some suggestions to our yoga community and save you the hours of trying to figure out who are these mysterious yoga artists. Each month I hope to post a playlist or two. Here are some of my favorite play lists from class to get you started (and yes, they are in a particular order).
All of these songs can be found on I-Tunes. Enjoy!!! -Yvonne

Soft Yoga (for a restorative or slow flow practice)

Vinyasa Flow (for a moving practice)

Nataraj- Black Phone Jai Uttal

Oceans of Ecstasy Oceans of Ecstasy

God Moving Over the Face of the World Moby

Let the Drummer Kick Citizen Cope

Nothing Better Postal Service

Mangalam Prem Joshua

Rock on Hanuman MC Yogi

Om Shakti Om Trevor Hall

Kashi Vishwanath Gange Krishna Das

Devi Puja Krishna Das

Blackbird Beatles

Jai Radha Madhav Deva Premal and Miten

Har Mantra Girl

Hi Fellow Yogi’s!

I’m so proud to say that we are well into our Fourth Year as a Yoga Studio that has attracted an amazing set of positive, caring yoga teachers and students.  I’m confident that we will continue to grow and expand to those who need yoga the most.

Yoga off Broadway Studio

This Blog post is to those of you who might be thinking of starting your own yoga studio.  I’d love to help you on your way.  Here is just one thing to think about… and if you have more questions- email me at kelly@yogaoffbroadway.org

Kelly Western (photo credit Avery Cunliffe)

There are tons of things to think about when you first decide to open your doors to offer yoga to your community.  You might think the first thing that you need is a name or a building or a business loan….but my suggestion is to take some time to  first set an intention or mission statement for your studio.

What kind of a studio is it going to be?  Do you in-vision cutting edge yoga or traditional yoga?  Will there be a spiritual feel or focus to the studio?  Yoga for the advanced students or yoga for beginners, or yoga for everyone? What kind of people do you want to attract?  What kind of feel do you want people to have when they step through the door?  Are you going to offer advanced classes?  Are you going to offer all sorts of styles of yoga or are you going to stick to one type?  Are there certain adjectives that describe you and your yoga teachers?

Once you write your mission statement, everything follows from that.  When you find yourself confused about policies to set, or decisions to make, go back to the mission and ask yourself if the decision you make is one that is in line with the mission and intention for the studio.

Make sure that everything you do is authentic– that you aren’t trying to be anything more that who YOU are.  Be true to yourself and be true to the roots of yoga.  If you are offering a “new” kind of yoga, then be open about that and honor where yoga comes from as you introduce your students to your own style of yoga.

Om Shanti!
Kelly

*Taken from The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying” by Sogyal Rinpoche

1

I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I fall in.
I am lost…I am hopeless
It isn’t my fault
It takes forever to find a way out

2

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don’t see it.
I fall in again.
I can’t believe I’m in the same place.
But it isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

3

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I see it there.
I still fall in… it’s a habit
My eyes are open
I know where I am
It is my fault
I get out immediately.

4

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

5

I walk down another street

Have you ever dreamed of exploring the culture and lifestyle of Yoga in the country of its origin?
India is a magical place that will ask you to redefine yourself and explore your spiritual side.

Dandapani has taken many travelers on an adventure of a lifetime, to explore the other side of the Earth.  In October he will be leading a trip to Northern India, a chance to experience the Celebration of Lights at the Golden Temple, what it feels like to ride a camel, and a chance to revel in the color and life that IS India.

Through daily lessons, Dandapani helps the travelers to reflect upon who they are, and how they can share in the divine nature that touches us all.

For more information about this journey of a lifetime, see website. Sign up through Yoga off Broadway and receive TWO MONTHS UNLIMITED YOGA.  Email Kelly for more details:  kelly@yogaoffbroadway.org

www.yogaoffbroadway.org

Welcome back KID YOGA CLASSES!
Starting again in September.

Classes will run Mondays (ages 4-6) and Wednesdays (ages 7-10) from 4-4:50pm
These classes are designed to be fun ways to learn how yoga can help keep bodies flexible, strong and balanced.  We practice individual yoga poses as well as play games designed around yoga.  The most important part of the class is to foster a love for oneself and respect for others as we talk about the principles of yoga.

Sign up for all 8 classes for $48 or drop in for $8 per class.  We will start taking sign ups for class in August.  Space is limited.  No refunds for kid yoga classes, but you can apply credit to future classes upon cancellation.
BE HAPPY * DO YOGA

If you haven’t ever tried yoga, one reason may be that simply the Word YOGA  brings with it an expectation of being flexible enough to wrap your body up into pretzel type poses made for lithe dancer type bodies.  OR you may have tried yoga class and been haunted with nightmares about your pitiful forward bend, your awkwardly tight hips and your ability to make the warrior one pose look more like you are surrendering rather than warrioring.

But I plead with you to take a deep breathe and let go all of these judgements and expectations.  When you finally get yourself to a yoga class, the last thing you should be concerned about is how your warrior one looks (by the way, this is one of the hardest poses to align your body in– in my personal opinion).

The first lesson of yoga is to let your EGO go.  That’s right, just let it walk right out of the front door of the yoga studio… it’s not needed anywhere near yoga and it certainly  won’t help your Warrior One.

As a yoga teacher I run into beginners all the time who ask me the same thing.  It goes something like this, “hi, ah, um, I’m new to yoga… and… well, I just want to let you know that I know I’m doing all of the poses wrong, and so if you see me doing something wrong, just let me know, I don’t mind if you point it out or correct me or anything…”. To this, I usually respond with a gentle smile and nod and say “ok, great”.  What I’d really like to say is this:

You ARE doing the yoga poses correctly, you are doing YOUR BODY’S VERSION of the pose (but no one ever believes this)

Many yoga poses like this one below, take many years of practice or simply a flexible and strong body:

While your body may not be ready for Scorpion Pose, you need to find the poses that your body IS ready for, and more important than just being “ready” for the pose… what poses are best for your body.  And in what capacity can you do the pose?

In Warrior One pose, we strive to get our hips to face the front of the mat, while fighting to keep the back edge of our back foot on the mat.  If you can’t get your hips square to the front, are you doing the pose incorrectly?  NO.  If you can’t get your arms to straighten out as you hold them over your head, are you doing the pose incorrectly?  NO.  You are doing your VERSION of the Warrior One pose.  The one that opens your body to your own limit. With time, with patience and with the breath your body will open up and you will create a new version of the Warrior One pose.  Again, this will require a serious talk with your EGO telling it that it is ok if you don’t look like the lady pictured below:

I know that in our competive culture we think that if we aren’t the best at something then we aren’t good enough.  BUT, you are being THE BEST yoga student when you learn to accept yourself for who you are (a divine spirit, a creation of nature, light and love).  This means letting go of judgements about yourself, letting go of EGO.  This lesson for me is always reinforced on my yoga mat.  And I hope that I can pass this lesson on to each of my students.  As long as you are keeping your body safe (aligning your joints correctly) and you aren’t pushing yourself past your limit (possibly just taking yourself to your edge) and you are only doing yoga for yoga sake (to connect with your body mind and spirit), honoring who you are today, you are a true YOGI and you are ROCKING the YOGA CLASS.

By the way, this also means that if you are ever in a yoga class and everyone around you is doing handstands or headstands or any other pose that doesn’t “work” for your body, please honor yourself and your limitations and feel good about taking a modification.  You don’t need to be anyone you aren’t– and that lesson you can take with you out the door, leaving your EGO behind as you do.

In reading The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, I came across a profound question that the book’s author, Sogyal Rinpoche, asks…

“…We tell ourselves we want to spend time on the important things of life, but there never is any time.  Even simply to get up in the morning, there is so much to do: open the window, make the bed, take a shower, brush your teeth, feed the dog or cat, do last night’s washing up, discover you are out of sugar or coffee, go and buy them, make breakfast–the list is endless.  And what about your hair, or your makeup? Helpless, we watch our days fill up with telephone calls and petty projects, with so many responsibilities–or shouldn’t we call them ‘irresponsibilities’?  Our lives seem to live us, to possess their own bizarre momentum, to carry us away; in the end we feel we have no choice or control over them.  Of course we feel bad about this somtimes, we have nightmares and wake up in a sweat, wondering: ‘what am I doing with my life?’ But our fears only last until breakfast time; out comes the briefcase, and back we go to where we started.”

The author goes on to say that if you spent 1/10th of the time that you spend making money, running errands, doing chores, on a spiritual practice, you would be enlightened in a few years.

What does enlightenment bring us?  The Buddhists say it brings peace from the endless cycle of pain and suffering from the desires of this life.  When we can truly let go of things and simply focus on loving life, caring for others and having compassion for all living beings, then isn’t that REALLY living life?

I recommend this book to everyone who wants to slow down and really start to live each day like it might be your last.  The book teaches you to live life without ignoring the fact that death is a reality for us all.  The second half of the book goes on to give practical advice for how to help those you love go through the stages of death. 

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche

Mommies and their Babies doing Yoga

Come join our group of new Mommies (even if you are a second or third time Mommy!). 

We practice every THURSDAY from 10-10:50am
$8 Drop in

The class is VERY low key.  We warm the room and play soft, relaxing music.  The class begins with some yoga for BABY and then some yoga for Mommy.  Mommies are encouraged to interact with their babies during each yoga pose and we sometimes find that the yoga gets interrupted for a diaper change or a moment to rock and soothe the little one.  It is a wonderful time to get out of the house, meet other Mommies and move your body.

Come join us!

We kicked off a new class this month “Yoga for Stiff People”.  On the first Sunday there were 19 people who showed up for class!! Thank you and WELCOME to all of the newcomers!!

Yoga for Stiff People is a class that is designed to be slower paced– focusing on holding poses so that people can break through the chronic stiffness in their muscles.  We will focus on stiffness in shoulders, back, hamstrings and hips. 

In this class, students will also learn how to breathe in order to release stress from the mind as well as from the muscles.  It should be noted that one class per week will not change the daily patterns that you reinforce in your body which creates stiffness and chronic pain.  But we will encourage you to learn how to stretch and how to use yoga asanas (poses) as well as yoga breathing techniques to practice on a daily basis on your own or in any yoga class. 

All ages and abilities are welcome as long as you are inflexible!! 

Classes are on Sundays from 9-10am
See you there!!