This Old One Works Just Fine

I have been using my Ipod for the music in my yoga and cycle classes. It locked up the other day and I tried all the tricks on the Internet to get it to unlock along with asking for help from every Ipod expert I knew (anyone younger than me) but with no luck. As a last resort I took it into the Apple store for a repair. I was told it was outdated and there were no signs of life internally (I could have sworn I heard something whirring inside begging me not to kill it). It would be $199 to get it repaired but for $250 I could replace it with a new Ipod that had four times more capacity. What did I need four times more for when I haven't even used up half of what the old one was capable of and I think I have every song known to man loaded on it - or at least every song I know man wants to listen to? I left determined to give CPR to this old Ipod and get it to work. My husband found the trick - accidentally dropping it kicks it back in gear and it has been working ever since.

Sometimes what we have is just enough. We don't need anything more than what we are currently working with. The marketing and sales people are always trying to sell us something newer and better when what we have with a little patience sometimes works just fine.

So take a little more time with the yoga poses in your class and give yourself time to get to where you want to be with them. What you have works just fine - nothing is wrong with the latest model of you.

Relax and Enjoy the Ride

The other day, I invited my yoga class to move to the wall so that we could work on some inversions. I explained what we were going to do and looked up to see a new member sitting on her mat near me looking just a little dazed. I asked her what was wrong. "I am feeling pretty inadequate" she said. It was her first class and she was trying to do every pose and was struggling with some but I thought she was doing great. We had a talk right there after I got the class started climbing the walls. I reminded her this was a benchmark class for her, that there were people at all levels in the class and she shouldn't compare herself to the gymnasts and the people that had been coming for years. She should relax and just do the best she could with every pose, rest when she got tired and watch when she wanted to. I told her that some things would come easy and some things would take a long time, but it was a practice, not a performance, and to stop putting pressure on herself. She relaxed, stayed for the rest of class and we ended up talking about yoga parties and how her wine business might merge with that idea very nicely. She was excited and looked forward to coming back.

I have reached the place with horse back riding lessons where my instructor is letting me take the horse out on my own. The other day was my second time doing this and I decided to work with the horse up and down the road instead of in the arena. I tried to just relax and enjoy the ride and be proud of myself for just being able to go out on my own. But, I have been trained to do so many things and have been able to get the horse to trot and canter and I wanted to be able to do that during that ride. It wasn't working out so well. I finally thought of the young woman in my yoga class that I had encouraged to just relax, do the best she could, and just enjoy being there practicing yoga with us. I knew I needed to listen to my own advice. I started to relax. I let go of trying to get the horse to move faster, slowed down my breath, let my hips move with her every step and paid attention to the beautiful horses grazing in the pastures around us. I finally relaxed and enjoyed the ride!

How's the Weather? - Don't You Wish You Were Here?

My brother sent me a text from California yesterday bragging about the sunny warm weather. He then asked "How is it there?" knowing very well that we were going to get temperatures below freezing that night. I could almost hear his sinister laugh as he sent the text. I responded that this week it was cold but I should be back in my bathing suit in a week or two - like I was the week before.

I remember a business trip to San Diego in the middle of our Texas winter. I came out of a store that was up on a hill right at sunset. It was so incredibly beautiful I stopped in my tracks in the middle of the parking lot. For safety's sake I found a bench on the sidewalk and sat down to enjoy the incredible view. I was amazed at all of the other people around me continuing to walk in and out of the stores, and get in and out of their cars without stopping. How could they not pause and look at what I was looking at? Maybe they were just so used to it being perfect all the time that it didn't phase them anymore. How sad.

Getting outside today in the chilly 30 degree weather reminded me that I wouldn't really be able to appreciate the 60 degree weather we are likely to get in a week or two if I wasn't freezing today. We must have a few tough times to enjoy the good. It makes it so much sweeter.

The same applies to yoga. How much more incredible it is for the person who has not been able to touch their toes to actually do it one day. For the person who could never do the splits to actually get down all the way to the floor some day (that would be me!). I delight in these "YES!!!" moments for my students and for myself. But remember - the journey itself is also to be enjoyed. So - don't fret the freeze - enjoy this moment and the inevitable return of the sun.

Ever Elusive Quiet Time

An instructor asked me to teach one of her fitness classes. It was at the same club I was heading to for my yoga class, but there was a 45 minute time gap between the end of her class and the start of mine. No class filled the time slot - just an empty room. I agreed to teach for her. I thought I would use the time to catch up on some telephone calls I had been meaning to make.

After the room emptied from the ab class I set up my yoga mat and sat down to make a few calls. I did manage to connect with one person but most of the calls I made ended up with me talking to peoples' voice messages. That was ok. At least they knew I was thinking about them as I left a cheery Hello. I still had a half hour before my yoga class started. I thought - wow - here is a full thirty minutes to just enjoy silence and meditate and I was trying to fill it up with calls and activity. I put the phone away and lay down on my mat in corpse pose to breathe and enjoy the quiet.

I had missed that place where everything stops except the breath. It was a wonderful thirty minutes and I intend to find more. As the new year takes off and so many of us are looking for more I will be looking for less. Less things to fill my time and more time to enjoy the silence. I look forward to the places my thoughts will take me and the ideas that never had a chance to grow because of all the activity around them.

Happy New Year.

I'm Waiting For You

I attended a master class by a well known yoga instructor. I overheard how awesome he was at a conference in San Francisco and was delighted to find out he was coming to our town. The day of the master class I left the house extra early to make it to the west side of town in rush hour traffic in time for the "show". I arrived almost an hour before the scheduled start. The room was abuzz; yogis were talking excitedly and stretching on their mats with their noses on their knees and toes pointing to heaven. I enjoyed meeting the other yoga instructors and students at the session. The starting time came and went and the "famous" instructor was nowhere to be found. We received an update on their status - they had landed and were on their way in rush hour traffic. (They mentioned the instructor had another workshop that day and was coming directly from that - it appeared to be a case of poor scheduling). The instructor was laid back about his arrival when he finally did make it. After an hour and a half of lecture we finally started to move for the master class but I was already very disappointed.

I think some people just let it go because this was a famous person that they worshiped. But for me it was a small thing that told a lot about him.

Your audience looks forward to you. Many times they spend money, rearrange their schedules and make every effort to be there at the start for you. You should give them the same consideration.

I know. Sometimes unpredictable circumstances cause us to be late and that is understandable. I have given myself double the time to get to a speaking engagement only to find myself at a standstill in traffic because of an accident that closed the freeway and I should have given myself triple the time - who knew?! But those times are few and far between. Just not planning enough time to get there tells your audience they are not worth your time. What message are you sending?

Get Outside the Studio Thinking

At a recent yoga gathering I mentioned my search for the perfect location for a yoga studio. I had investigated several locations. Some were too big (though I imagine someday I will need that much space!), some were too small without enough parking spaces for the members, but none were "just right" yet. A particularly positive yogi suggested expanding my search to include houses or other interesting buildings that could be fixed up and used as a studio. I immediately pictured "Yoga Barn" in the middle of a field with a man made lake (fake lake - as I call them) in the woods and this beautiful yoga barn!

I have yoga in the park, and yoga on the lake, and yoga at the beach - why not in the barn?!

As a student we are conditioned to stay on the mat. We hardly venture off the mat and try our poses on the floor or turn our mat to a different orientation besides facing the front. When I teach I walk about the room, dropping to a pose near whichever student I was helping last, sometimes on the floor, sometimes taking my mat with me as I move about the room! I am often off the mat hanging out on the grass striking a pose when I teach at the park.

We need to be open to different possibilities and I am grateful for the yogi who opened my eyes to a different place for a studio. I will try to keep my mind and my eyes open all the time!

Pomodoro Technique

As I was preparing for a business class on Increasing Your Personal Effectiveness, I came across a technique called Pomodoro. We are bombarded with internal and external interruptions that prevent us from focusing on our work tasks. The internal interruptions include - our mind wandering from our work to constantly getting up to get a drink of water or other activities that prevents us from staying on task. External interruptions include phone calls and visitors. The Pomodoro technique involves setting a timer for 25 minutes of uninterrupted time. During that time you are to stay focused on one task. You do not allow yourself a break until the 25 minutes are up. Then you take a five minute break from your work - and return to it for another "Pomodoro" - 25 minute stint. The process is continued for four "Pomodoros", after which you are allowed a 30 minute break.

Just as we focus on the breath in yoga and I am sometimes distracted by movement and comings and goings in the room, I am distracted from my work. Sometimes, I feel like I am constantly working without the progress I would expect for the time invested. So, I decided to try the Pomodoro technique today. It was amazing how much I was able to accomplish when I focused on my projects for 25 minute intervals. I will share this technique with my business classes.

Oh, by the way, my Pomodoros included a 25 minute nap too! I consider that a very important task!

Try the technique and let me know what happens. More details are available on the Internet - just Google "Pomodoro technique"!