yoga acoustic playlist

Heartstopper Emiliana Torrini 

On My Mind Kalai 

Babylon David Gray 

Hush Now Fink 

Love Is My Religion Ziggy Marley 

I'm so Lonesome I Could Cry  Keb' Mo' 

Hey Ya  Obadiah Parker

No Woman No Cry  Xavier 

Sort of Revolution Fink 

Are You Free?  Pieta Brown 

Can I Stay  Ray LaMontagne 

Keep It Loose, Keep It Tight  Amos Lee 

Island The Ben Taylor Band & Carly Simon 

Glory Box John Martyn 

Walking In the Sun  Fink 

Sunrise  Ryan Bingham 

The Back Of Your Hand  Dwight Yoakam 

Another Man's Done Gone Billy Bragg & Wilco 

Beauty in the World  Macy Gray 

Driving North  Chris Pureka 

This Is the Thing  Fink 

Heavenly Day  Patty Griffin 

The One I Love  Rosie Thomas 

Crazy Love Thea Gilmore

Pretty Little Thing  Fink 

Southside of Heaven  Ryan Bingham 

Rainbow  G. Love & Jack Johson 

With My Own Two Hands  Ben Harper

Waiting On an Angel Ben Harper 

I'm Not Afraid to Die Gillian Welch & Willie Nelson

Beautiful World  Colin Hay 

The Crossing  Meg Hutchinson 

As I'm Leaving  David Gray 

New York City's Killing Me Ray LaMontagne & The Pariah Dogs 

Reasons to Lie Whiskeytown 

Wonderwall Ryan Adams 

I Wish I Was the Moon  Neko Case 

Volcano Damien Rice 

Skinny Love  Bon Iver 

I Try  Ben Taylor 

Waiting Around To Die  The Be Good Tanyas 

There Is So Much Magnificence  Steve Gold 

Bang, Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) Nancy Sinatra & Billy Strange 

A Girl Like You  Pete Yorn 

You Gotta Choose  Fink 

Blindsided  Bon Iver 

Crazy  Ray Lamontagne 

All You Ever Wanted the Black Keys 

9 Crimes  Damien Rice 

Heartstopper  Emiliana Torrini 

By request, my acoustic playlist.  These are my very favorite songs by my very favorite artists.  Respect, people.  Respect.  

My good day playlist.  My bad day playlist.  My heart is full playlist.  My heart is breaking playlist.  

Usually what is playing when I do my own practice.  

aerial yoga

As part of my recent week long training, I got to go to a yoga class!  Which when you teach yoga, you don't get to do very often.

I found a studio a block (a block!) from the hotel.  The Yoga Studio.  They had two Sunday morning offerings.  Heated vinyasa which just sounds miserable to me.  And aerial yoga.  Hmm...

My curiosity got the better of me and I found myself sitting in a beautiful studio with silk swings hanging from the ceiling.  

The class was super challenging especially for the abs, the legs, and the upper body.  We went upside down.  We were cocooned in the swing.  We did savasana in the swing.

It is always fun to see how other teachers handle a class.  And, this class seemed wild because at least a third of it was brand spanking new to aerial yoga.  I loved watching the teacher, Amber, handle the different levels.  And, I especially liked how she made sure everyone was on the same page.

If you're with me shout Wooo!  If you're not shout Whoa!

After the class I chatted with Amber and she was kind enough to let me snap a photo.

You can find Amber at her website or at The Yoga Studio in Campbell, CA.

Have you tried aerial yoga?  Thoughts?

weekend yin

I teach ten classes a week.  Plus, I go through each sequence before I teach it.  And, I have a personal practice where I'm on the mat at least once a day.  I spend a lot of time rolling around on the floor!  Playing.  It's fun.

Yet, by Thursday night after my last class for the week, I'm exhausted.  Sometimes the thought of getting back on my mat on my days off isn't always appealing.  

My new weekend practice is Yin.  Three days of yin to unwind and go deeper.  I love the challenge of it.  I love feeling the body let go slowly.  And, my mind let go slowly.  

Here is a glimpse at my practice Friday night.  By the fire.  In the dark.  Totally quiet.  Books for a block.

there's an app for that

My new favortie app:  insight timer.

I'm the one who has yoga teaching anxiety dreams where I demo a restorative pose, stay there and fall asleep, and wake up 45 minutes later and the whole class is still there staring at me.

I don't use this app in my classes, but I use it in my practice.  Especially if I set myself up in a restorative pose and have a class coming in (see above).  That way I can concentrate on my breathing instead of wondering how long I have been there.  And, hey, I'm not perfect, I fall asleep sometimes and I like knowing that I won't be living out my stress dreams.

I also use it for my meditation practice.  Same reasons apply.  That way I can go deep and not freak out about how long I have been there.

There are different sounds to choose from.  You can have a starting bell, delayed even; interval bells, to bring you back; and ending bells.  It is simple to choose bells and times.  Plus, it keeps track of your practice.

And, in this world of social media, one of my favorite parts is that the home screen displays how many people are meditating at that moment.  It is a wonderfully comforting thought that other people are practicing "with" me.

writing as a practice

I'm not sure I've ever taken a good look at my writing as a practice.  It is a part of my yoga practice.  I always have a notebook by my mat because good stuff comes from a focussed mind.

But, off the mat, my writing practice looks a lot less composed.  It looks a lot like my meditation practice.  Lots of tears.

Ahem.  Sounds lovely, huh?

Let me explain.

I don't usually write around people.  I have to be by myself.  It doesn't necessarily have to be quiet, but I can't have interruptions and I can't have people see me.  Much like my meditation practice.  I never really knew why.

Today I am at a local coffee shop filled with people and have come to the realization of how messy my writing practice is.  In a way I've never noticed.  But, people can see me and that makes me more aware of what it is that I'm doing.

This is what my writing practice looks like:

• three beverages and a gulp from one after every sentence or so
• blank staring into space
• and the tears, oh my 

I think I knew that I cried when I wrote.  I also cry when I meditate (seriously, fountains of tears.  if i "fake" meditate...no tears.  that's my tell.).  I never knew how much until today when I am writing in front of people.  It isn't heaving sobs.  But, it is teary and snotty.  What a mess.  

Isn't learning about yourself a funny business?

yoga teacher confessions 1.24.12

Teaching vs. Leading

I am a very baby yoga teacher.  In August it will be four years.  

And, in teaching yoga, as with any new thing I do, I get frustrated that I'm a beginner.  That I don't have 30 years of practice under my belt.  That I don't have 20 years of teaching under my belt.  That I haven't been to India a dozen times and don't have a Sanskrit "name".  In fact, I'm fairly certain that I won't make it to India in this lifetime.  And, I'm very certain that my teachers, or myself for that matter, are not going to call me Babs Shakti Shanti. Ever.  And, even if I went to India and got dysentery from the Ganga, and even if I had been a student of yoga for 50 years...there would still be that class I taught that would be my FIRST class.  I would still be a baby teacher.

We all have to start somewhere and I started my teaching journey at gyms. I look back at that time with sincere fondness.  And, often, sincere embarrassment.  I find it amazing that I still have students from that time.  It is the time that I refer to as "leading" yoga classes.  You know, that teacher who never makes it off her mat, never looks up, never teaches to the physicality of the room, never deviates from The Plan?  Ya, that was me.  Honestly, that is still me a lot of the time.  

But, as my journey unfolds, I find myself off the mat more.  I don't do many assists, but I do verbal assists.  I have my eye on every body in the room.  I make a point to be kind, to be humorous, to be real.  To never single someone out or call someone out.  After three and a half years, I find that I am actually teaching.  And that I have more enthusiasm about yoga now than I ever did.  

That enthusiasm and optimism that comes from being new at something.  Bright, shiny, and new.  

I want to be that teacher 50 years from now.  

coffee

I've never had a coffee maker.  Only a French press.  I love French press coffee, but when you have company, it takes time to make a lot of coffee that way.  

So for the new kitchen I got an actual 10 cup coffee maker.

 

I was so excited to use it that for a couple of weeks I forgot to pace myself...I was drinking 8 cups...jitter, jitter, jitter.  I'm a one cup of joe type of gal.

That one perfect cup.  

My friend gave me her Fireside Coffee mix for Christmas.  I think you're supposed to just add water, but I've been putting a spoonful of it in my, once again, one cup of coffee.  And some cream.  A very nice way to start out this snowy, cold day.  

Asides:

• I often have students who complain about not sleeping well.  The very first thing I ask them is when their last 32 oz starbuckles was...if it is after noon, it is likely to be ruining your nights.  My tip (I know it is hard, that two o'clock cuppa is sooooo tempting): don't drink coffee after noon.  And, maybe don't drink an entire pot of coffee in the morning...ahem.
• Speaking of the kitchen.  I am in looooove.  Totally worth waiting for.  Especially the part that held us up the longest: the countertops.  Stainless steel.  I don't think I'd ever want anything else.  There is a reason restaurants have them.  They take a total beating and clean up easy.  I mean beets, pomegranates, turmeric all just wipe up.