Spring is a time of awakening. Now is the time to awaken. As the Yoga Sutras state, “Atha Yoga Anusasanam”. Now is Yoga! We are warriors of spirit. The messages we have been receiving from Source are clear. It is time to remember who we really are. We are being called to wake up and open our hearts to pure love, the seed of our Soul. It’s time to release our habits, our samskaras.

Disentangle from the labels that we use to define the story of our lives. Release the victim, the judge, and the persecutor. Awaken. The conscious shift of humanity is here. Our transformation is now. If beliefs are just thoughts that we keep on thinking, then let’s be radically self-expressive, creative, positive and playful with them. Let’s create a new belief system based in joy – not fear, worry and chaos.

The Universe works in perfect, sacred order. We are the Universe. We are perfect even in the imperfect. We are Divine energy. We are all one, dynamic, beautiful, connected unit. The illusion, maya, is separation. Begin to acknowledge your oneness and your greatness. Accept your Divinity. Act as jivatman, the living spirit. “How?” you may say. Pay attention. Focus inward (pratyahara). Concentrate (dharana). Slow down. Meditate (dhyana). Move your body (asana). Feed your soul with nourishing activities and clean food (14 day yogi spring seasonal food cleanse)!

Create a sacred ritual with each breath you breathe. Breathe breath. Give thanks all the time. In this and every moment search for the best intent. Find consciousness. Be the observer to what you are thinking. Ask yourself if you are acting for the highest good. Are your words transmitting Source energy and inspiration or are they tearing something down? Are you judging and placing people in boxes? Are you being impeccable with your word? Be honest. Be in integrity.

Written by Nicole Doherty
for American Athlete Magazine

Becoming a great athlete certainly takes a lot of work. It takes time, dedication, practice and commitment. One of the first orders of business for a professional athlete is conditioning—cleaning up the body and priming it for optimal performance. The same is true about the practice of Yoga.

Our physical form, which is our body, is very much like a machine. Much like a car, we need to clean the outside, vacuum the inside and perform regular maintenance, like changing the oil, on schedule. We need to do the same with our bodies; we need to maintain our personal vehicle.

Most athletes are great at what they do because they have detoxified their system and have become attuned to their bodies and its needs. To continue using the car analogy: Detoxified your system and becoming attuned to your body makes it function at peak performance. This helps it operate well at high speeds, keeps it from breaking down over long distances, and helps keep the wheels on. Simply put, successful athletes learn how to maintain their bodies.

Most people come to Yoga with bodies like beat up Chevys. And that’s OK because at least they are beginning the healing process. Think of Yoga teachers as mechanics who are prepared to make repairs using the right tools. In Yoga, we start to work the outer layers to move toward the inner layers using techniques to create body awareness. We peel away past injuries and the negative compensations that have developed over time as a result these injuries. We also peel away tension and stress. More importantly, we use the practice to prevent new injuries, open the body, and detoxify the system.

In Yoga, the outer layers of the practice address the functional anatomy—aligning the body, working isometrically, isolating muscles, strengthening, stabilizing and elongating them.

Part of the practice of releasing impurities is achieved utilizing postures like “seated forward folds” and “twists”, which help to stimulate and wring out the intestines, where most of our garbage resides. But even more important than these particular poses is the use of the breath. When we consciously breathe we generate heat in our system that burns off the pollutants found in our gut. There are many different breathing techniques that are part of the cleansing process, a common one found in classes today is called “Breath of Fire”.

Once we begin the purification process, we notice that it begins to take hold in other aspects of our being. Ever notice the way you feel after you’ve cleaned your car? I have a Mini Cooper and when that little cutie is clean and sparkly, well, I just want to put the top down, blast the radio and drive all over LA!

My point is this: When we freshen up, we start to feel better. Our energy is cleaner. We present ourselves differently. Our mind is serene when there is less clutter on the floor and the seats.  Detoxifying the body soothes the internal chatter of the mind.  The whole goal of Yoga is to still the fluctuations of the “mind stuff” or “citta” as the term is known in Sanskrit.

I began practicing yoga over ten years ago, and I really didn’t understand these concepts very well. Maybe I just chose to ignore what I needed to change about myself. I loved the way Yoga made me feel every time I walked into a class, but my lifestyle outside class was not supporting the practice. I worked really hard and partied even harder. I was stressed out. I never watched what I ate. I slept a little—mainly watched the clock. I drank caffeine to stay awake during the day and would take sleeping pills at night. Even worse, I actually thought this was pretty normal because it was behavior I learned was shared by friends and coworkers. I simply didn’t think change was needed.

Now that I have learned about the mind-body connection and how energy works, it seems so crazy that I couldn’t figure out why I still didn’t feel great. But I should have known. Gold Medalists don’t win those medals training every now and again while binging on cupcakes, donuts, caffeine and sleep aids. They talk the talk and they walk the walk.

When I started practicing yoga regularly, 3 – 5 times per week, I really started to become aware of shifts in how I was feeling. Once I began to purify my body, my mind followed. 

Every time I showed up on my mat, I was confronted with the thoughts that were feeding my addictions and patterns of behavior off the mat. I learned that going inward into the highly individual practice of Yoga became a journey of realization, discovery, acceptance and awareness. Every time I released the tension and toxins of my body, a little more of my mind’s negativity went with them. I began to experience peace, joy and happiness. These came in bits and pieces at first but then became regular occurrences.

In Yoga, as with all athletic practices, dedication and consistency is encourages. This is defined as “abyasa” in Sanskrit. Following this course, we can unravel the complications of the body and mini traumas (or big ones) that have occurred on our life path. We can use a practice of breath and movement to release resistance and move toward more spaciousness in our minds. With more space, we can develop a keener awareness and sharper focus. When we are ready, we can dive even deeper to discover more through yogic practices like meditation.

That’s certainly what I did. My life has changed as a result of my own Yoga practice and Yoga has spilled into every crevice of my existence. I no longer succumb to any of the aforementioned behaviors. Interestingly enough, I’m now a sober, vegan Yoga teacher who also leads seasonal food cleanses. This certainly was not my intention 10 years ago when I walked into the Yoga studio. But my life has become amazing.

If you are resisting detoxification through a Yoga practice (or any training), it’s probably your Ego telling you to not change. But like any good coach, my suggestion is to just keep showing up to practice. Put in the time. With consistency and dedication, you can make a real shift in your life. As Patabhi Jois, one of the founders of Western Yoga has famously said: “All is coming. Yoga is 99% practice and 1% theory”.  Yes, it’s really all about experiencing it first hand.

Carve out some time, dedicate yourself to a practice and commit to real change.

YOGI SEASONAL FOOD CLEANSE

Spring – 14 Days

NEW DATE – Monday, April 16th – Sunday, April 29th

It’s time to cleanse after all the holiday cheer! Join our professional team of yogis for a 14 Day Yogi Seasonal Food Cleanse designed to align your physical and energetic bodies as the weather and season changes.  You will learn how to detoxify and heal the body through the use of local, organic, sustainable food and use our yoga practice to further eliminate toxins and boost your immune system in preparation for the holiday and flu season.  This is the ultimate “foodie” cleanse!  No starving here, just wholesome clean foods that will make you feel better than ever!  We hope that after participating in the 14 Day Yogi Seasonal Food Cleanse, you will attain the knowledge that will guide you toward long term healthier practices and an enhanced life!

14 Day Cleanse Includes:

• PDF workbook including a detailed description of the cleanse, expert advice on how to succeed and get the most out of the cleanse, journal templates, 2 week sample menu, shopping lists, list of local farmers markets and organic markets, vegan restaurant guide, delicious seasonal vegan recipes and more.One in-person group q & a meeting (optional attendance)
• Daily outdoor yoga classes at “Bronson Canyon Yoga” geared specifically toward the cleansing process. ** If you are out of town or pay for yoga elsewhere you can still join the cleanse (choose “no yoga” option below)
• Email forum/Facebook
• Yoga class the day before cleanse start date, plus optional Q & A

Testimonials from our past cleanse groups!

Save the Date:
Sunday, April 15th
9:00am optional Q & A;
9:30am yoga class at Bronson Canyon Yoga

Price for 14 Day Cleanse:
$80 – $120
nic@nicolepresents.com

Cleanse Options

New Cleanse Member – No Yoga $80.00 USD New Cleanse Member – With Yoga $120.00 USD Trade for Services (Email Us) $0.00 USD

Nicole Doherty, American Athlete’s yoga columnist.

The fact that American Athlete has decided to include a regular yoga column says a great deal about how popular the practice has become in the United States and in athletics in general. As a long-time practitioner, teacher, and entrepreneur, it is my mission—including now for AA!—to demystify the practice of yoga and break down the barriers that people place between themselves and what is unfamiliar to them. In the context of my role as a columnist here, that means illustrating how beneficial and healthful yoga is for athletes of all sports and levels.

What’s true of all sports is also true of yoga: Getting better at it requires practice. It’s during practice that gymnasts, for example, master a particular move or basketball players improve their free throws. That’s because repetition conditions the mind to experience success while also building muscle memory so movements or skill sets can be duplicated with regularity—without having to think so hard about it. The same is true of yoga, which, as a fundamental fitness building block, enhances the mental and physical aspects of all sports. But an added benefit of yoga is that as one practices more, and for increasingly extended periods, it evolves beyond a physical form of exercise. Yoga offers what the editors of AA are finding to be universal for all athletes when they get to higher levels of experience: a uniting of mind, body, and spirit.

Most professional athletes will attest that it takes a lot more than just physical prowess to succeed at high levels. And although they may not be aware of what’s going on inside them, or even be able to articulate what is occurring when they describe being “in the zone,” athletes are typically transcending the body and working with other aspects of their being, including the mind and ultimately the spirit. Examining the practice of yoga within the context of American Athlete’s slogan of “Mind, Body, and Spirit” is a perfect way for athletes to learn more about the practice and get started.

Body

Many athletes turn to yoga as a form of active physical exercise to enhance their training. Proven benefits include building strength, gaining flexibility, releasing tension, accessing better balance, improving endurance, preventing injury, and recovery. Yoga is also highly adaptable and customizable to any athlete’s needs: a restorative and resting practice, a fast-pasted energy and endurance method, or something in between.

Mind

The regular practice of yoga can help calm the mind, induce relaxation, and reduce tension through the release of muscle tightness and the adoption of proper breathing technique. Yoga also helps athletes develop the connection between the body and the mind through increased awareness and concentration, improving the ability to focus and stay safe while training. The mind is a fabulous tool that, when calm, can interpret and assimilate information about the body to keep it healthy and heal it. Most athletes find that yoga helps to access a healthy balance of will power, resolve, and drive.

Spirit

The spirit is that indescribable and unshakeable aspect of being that sparks passion, energy, intuition, and inspiration. In making the distinction between good and great athletes, coaches and commentators often refer to an athlete’s “intangibles”; and this is nothing more than a different way of referring to an athlete’s spirit—her ability to be in the moment and aware of the entire game around her all at once. Athletes who regularly practice yoga find that it augments such energies, including creative ones, through the detoxification and balance of their body and mind.

When the three aspects of mind, body, and spirit are in tandem, there is an elevation in one’s game, so to speak, and this “brilliance” often flows to an athlete’s life off the field. Balance leads to happiness, which can extend to the communities and people around practitioners of yoga. So the practice becomes not just about the individual; it becomes about the collective consciousness. Individual life transforms; this is witnessed by the whole, and the transformation becomes a model that is admired, appreciated, and ultimately the source of inspiration.

I am honored to be able to bring you some valuable information about the practice, science, and art of yoga as a part of a holistic methodology for athletes. I will end my first column by saying “Namaste.” Namaste (pronounced NUM-ah-stay ) is a spoken greeting or salutation originating from India and Nepal. This Hindu salutation means, “The divine (light/spirit/love) in me honors the divine in you.” The expression is used on meeting or parting and is accompanied by a slight bow made with the palms of the hands pressed together, fingers pointing upward, in front of the heart. While that sounds religious, yoga is not, in fact, a religion. It is a science that is accessible to everyone—and not something just for “hippies” or “spiritual types.” Hold that thought, because it’s the subject of my next column.

Namaste.

Yoga + Hiking Trips with Nicole

Book privately for a group or sign up for one of our monthly trips!

This 90-minute journey will combine the cardiovascular elements of hiking with the mindful practice of yoga and meditation.  We will warm up with some breath work and sun salutations, then journey through nature and into the deepest parts of ourselves.  Throughout the hike, we will stop to stretch & release tension from the body.  Towards the end, we will cool down with some restoratives and meditation, concluding a well-rounded mind and body experience.

Nicole is trained to lead these trips through HikingYoga.com’s founder, Eric Kipp. She leads trips with HikingYoga.com in the Santa Monica mountains from time to time.

Next monthly group trip scheduled!

Date: Saturday, February 25th 8:30- 10:30a
Location:  Bronson Canyon; 3200 Canyon Drive; Meet at the gate past the parking lot
Cost:  $10 per person
RSVP: nic@nicolepresents.com; provide your phone number/email for any last minute announcements due to weather

Nicole & Chrissy for a yoga/hike excursion in the hills of Bronson Canyon.  This 90-minute journey will combine the cardiovascular elements of hiking with the mindful practice of yoga and meditation.  We will warm up with some breath work and sun salutations, then journey through nature and into the deepest parts of ourselves.  Throughout the hike, we will stop to stretch & release tension from the body.  Towards the end, we will cool down with some restoratives and meditation, concluding a well-rounded mind and body experience.

What to bring: Wear sneakers. Bring water. No mat required.
Where to meet: Just past the parking lot on the right. 3200 Canyon Drive
What if it rains: When you pay, I will email you to exchange # numbers.
Meeting time: 8:30a

RESERVE YOUR SPACE FOR THIS AWESOME FUN!

VISIT US “BRONSON CANYON YOGA”

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The “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body” article in the New York Times recently has gained quite a reputation in the Yoga community.  The article adapted from “The Science of Yoga: The Risks and Rewards,” by William J. Broad is a bit of a scare tactic article, but brings very important information to light. Thank you to William for bringing this awareness of yoga to the public eye and for creating space to talk about Yoga’s risks and benefits. With articles like this we can begin to develop a safer and more effective landscape in a fast growing popular industry.

If we want to see yoga continue to grow and spread to help heal people’s bodies and minds (and not just be a fitness fad) then we do need to scrutinize what’s happening in the industry and talk about the risks of unqualified teachers and uneducated students. After all, Yoga is a 5000 + year old time tested practice that’s healed more people around the globe than it’s injured, but we need to educate everyone in the market as to how to practice safely and with intelligence.

Personally, I am a professional yoga teacher and I work at one of the leading providers of Yoga in in the industry, YogaWorks. I feel this article needs some clarification as some of my clients are now concerned for their practice.

I’m going to respond to parts of the 5 page article that I find require some attention and clarification so that my clients can continue to feel safe and trust me and educate themselves!

Please feel free to comment on this as well.  Great discussion creates a great education!

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NYT: “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body”
Nicole: Let’s change the title to:  “Educate yourself about yoga and its risks so you can have a lifetime of healthy practice!”

NYT: Black walked around the room, joking and talking. “Is this yoga?” he asked as we sweated through a pose that seemed to demand superhuman endurance. “It is if you’re paying attention.” Throughout the class, he urged us to pay attention to the thresholds of pain. “I make it as hard as possible,” he told the group. “It’s up to you to make it easy on yourself.” The emphasis on holding only a few simple poses, the absence of common inversions like headstands and shoulder stands. He gave me the kind of answer you’d expect from any yoga teacher: that awareness is more important than rushing through a series of postures just to say you’d done them…Black recently took that message to a conference at the Omega Institute, his feelings on the subject deepened by his recent operation. But his warnings seemed to fall on deaf ears. “I was a little more emphatic than usual,” he recalled. “My message was that ‘Asana is not a panacea or a cure-all. In fact, if you do it with ego or obsession, you’ll end up causing problems.’ A lot of people don’t like to hear that.”

Nicole:  I agree that the most important aspect of yoga is about being mindful, aware, finding concentration and using the breath. I always say, “If you have lost your breath you have lost your Yoga.”  If the breath is gone, you are pushing too far and too hard. Check your Ego at the door. Awareness is most important.  At YogaWorks, we place emphasis on slowing down and holding poses statically, so we can maintain this sense of concentration and focus on alignment. We are start at the foundation of a pose and work our way up the body. If you move too fast, it is challenging to align the body, access the subtle actions, incorporate the guidance of the teacher and have the time to adjust and breathe.  This is risky. The steadiness and ease that Black mentions comes into play when you have a bit more time.  So why rush?  People want to “work out”.  But what is absent in this mindset is understanding that you don’t have to move fast in order to create heat in the body.  We understand if we deepen our breath, we generate sweat and heat from the inside. I can guarantee Black’s students are sweating when they are holding his poses for a long length of time. At YogaWorks, we still flow, if you like that practice, but we don’t feel the need to rush anything so you can understand the messages and sensations the body is sending you.

As Black mentions if you practice from obsession and ego, you aren’t being aware. It’s like anything – if you go too far, too quick, too fast – then there is no balance. Moderation is key to any practice and art form. Asana is designed to quiet the mind. When we gain awareness of the body we eventually come to place of quieting the mind and accessing meditation, peace and stillness.

NYT: Not just students but celebrated teachers too, Black said, injure themselves in droves because most have underlying physical weaknesses or problems that make serious injury all but inevitable. Instead of doing yoga, “they need to be doing a specific range of motions for articulation, for organ condition,” he said, to strengthen weak parts of the body. “Yoga is for people in good physical condition. Or it can be used therapeutically. It’s controversial to say, but it really shouldn’t be used for a general class.”

Nicole: Interesting comment above. I’d like to expound on what Black is saying.  I agree that Yoga is difficult in large classes because everyone has such different bodies.  If you are in a large class with all these body types and injuries, is there really enough time for a teacher to understand all the injuries and body types in one class and generalize?

It’s important for students to educate themselves on how to be safe and take personal responsibility of their own health and wellness.  I know YogaWorks offers fantastic and well educated teachers;  intelligent sequencing; the risks of poses;  various modifications and adjustments to prevent injury; various levels of postures within each class for a variety of student bodies;  props and different levels of classes based on experience too.

But, ultimately we can only control some things.  The other part of the equation is the ego as Black discusses and our human competitive nature – are the students listening or blasting out?

As teachers of Yoga, we cannot assume all the risk. We can’t be sure if students are being truthful and vocalizing their injuries to the teachers or their pain levels, etc.  This is why it’s very important to start to provide the education necessary to empower the students of yoga to learn and understand their own bodies. Students need to understand what a good, safe effective teacher is and understand more about trainings out there.

We take risks with anything that we do on a daily basis.  For instance, we get in our cars every day.  We understand the nature of what we are getting ourselves into and we pay close attention. We know that if we are texting and driving we are putting ourselves at risk.   Recently, automakers and governing bodies began to campaign to encouraging people not to text and passed laws to enforce them.   We believe this article is amazing because it is sending out the same red flag to the industry and now we have an opening and opportunity to begin to educate of the students and bring awareness to quality control of teacher trainings.

NYT: Black seemingly reconciles the dangers of yoga with his own teaching of it by working hard at knowing when a student “shouldn’t do something — the shoulder stand, the headstand or putting any weight on the cervical vertebrae.” Though he studied with Shmuel Tatz, a legendary Manhattan-based physical therapist who devised a method of massage and alignment for actors and dancers, he acknowledges that he has no formal training for determining which poses are good for a student and which may be problematic. What he does have, he says, is “a ton of experience.”

Nicole: There are several things that can be addressed that Black discusses that we wholeheartedly agree with.  Teachers need a lot of experience.  Also, the student needs to stick with a teacher and a method so they can go deep and their teacher can begin to understand their body.  To become a master at anything you need this dedication and practice.

The Yoga practice was designed to be a one on one practice, like any private lesson. A student worked with one, maybe two teachers your whole life.  In Western society, we like it fast and furious. We jump around.  We like variety. There are fads.  Just like there are a million flavors of pasta sauce on the shelves, there are an infinite amount of types of yoga.  The creativity in the industry is exciting and amazing, but what happens when the student doesn’t know how to tell the difference? What happens when the student doesn’t know what level they are? What happens when the student jumps from class to class and teacher to teacher?

YogaWorks has worked very hard to build a methodology around safe, effective, foundational sequencing for the lifestyle of the average practitioner. Every teacher that comes through here understands the same method and speaks the same language.  They learn this method and then they have to keep educating themselves ongoingly – with credits and certifications. It’s like going to Harvard and getting a business degree.  We don’t just offer classes for anyone to teach. Our teachers need to go through the highest levels of certifications and work with a mentor closely and assist classes.  They have to continue to work within our system for a long time.

It’s important for students to start to educate themselves on the backgrounds of their teachers.  Do your research. Just like you would want to know the credentials of a Harvard professor, you want to know what the background of your teachers and the trainings they come from.

NYT: According to Black, a number of factors have converged to heighten the risk of practicing yoga. The biggest is the demographic shift in those who study it. Indian practitioners of yoga typically squatted and sat cross-legged in daily life, and yoga poses, or asanas, were an outgrowth of these postures. Now urbanites who sit in chairs all day walk into a studio a couple of times a week and strain to twist themselves into ever-more-difficult postures despite their lack of flexibility and other physical problems. Many come to yoga as a gentle alternative to vigorous sports or for rehabilitation for injuries. But yoga’s exploding popularity — the number of Americans doing yoga has risen from about 4 million in 2001 to what some estimate to be as many as 20 million in 2011 — means that there is now an abundance of studios where many teachers lack the deeper training necessary to recognize when students are headed toward injury. “Today many schools of yoga are just about pushing people,” Black said. “You can’t believe what’s going on — teachers jumping on people, pushing and pulling and saying, ‘You should be able to do this by now.’ It has to do with their egos.”

Nicole: On the flip side of the coin, because we sit all day and our posture is poor and our hips are tight, we can find a tremendous amount of relief through a simple yoga practice that heals all the imbalances that occurs from this lifestyle.

Proven benefits include building strength, gaining flexibility, releasing tension, accessing better balance, improving endurance, preventing injury, and recovery. Yoga is also highly adaptable and customizable to people’s needs: a restorative and resting practice, a fast-pasted energy and endurance method, or something in between.

Having teachers saying anything like, ‘You should be able to do this by now.’ definitely is not working from within a yogic construct.  We agree this has to do with the teacher’s egos.  The best practice for a student is to honor their own body and its messages.  We as teachers can guide you and offer a little gentle loving push, but as a student you are the master of your body. We can’t feel what you are feeling.  Manage your practice and be vocal and expressive about it.

NYT: But a growing body of medical evidence supports Black’s contention that, for many people, a number of commonly taught yoga poses are inherently risky. The first reports of yoga injuries appeared decades ago, published in some of the world’s most respected journals — among them, Neurology, The British Medical Journal and The Journal of the American Medical Association.

Nicole: There is also a growing body of medical evidence that supports the healing and health that people are experiencing beyond even the physical aspects of the practice that no other physical sport and activity is offering.   There are few physical practices that offer the whole mind-body benefits out there.  There are studies and research out there that support the health benefits equally.

I agree that there are many risks with inversions. At YogaWorks we pay special and close attention to the integrity of these postures.  These are advanced level poses and students need to have years of experience building up and opening other parts of the body to even consider these postures.

This brings up again the importance of paying attention to class levels which has not been addressed.  Most studios are under the pressure of trying to remain afloat in a very competitive landscape in large cities like LA, SF and NY.  Studios are starting to offer “all level” class structures.  However, this structure increases the risk factors for both the student and the teacher. For example, let’s liken this to martial arts and karate. Would you pair up with a black belt if you just entered this practice?  You could, but would you want to? Students need to start with the basics and foundations and move up from there.

It’s safer and more effective when classes are much more specific to the demographic they are targeting and outline the levels of practitioners through not only years of practice but how often they practice.  This allows the teacher to be specific about their education and language.

NYT: In 2009, a New York City team based at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons published an ambitious worldwide survey of yoga teachers, therapists and doctors. The answers to the survey’s central question — What were the most serious yoga-related injuries (disabling and/or of long duration) they had seen? — revealed that the largest number of injuries (231) centered on the lower back. The other main sites were, in declining order of prevalence: the shoulder (219), the knee (174) and the neck (110). Then came stroke. The respondents noted four cases in which yoga’s extreme bending and contortions resulted in some degree of brain damage. The numbers weren’t alarming but the acknowledgment of risk — nearly four decades after Russell first issued his warning — pointed to a decided shift in the perception of the dangers yoga posed.

Nicole: What’s interesting in the above statistics as you will notice is that all of these injuries occur in the most vulnerable parts of the spine. These are the most common injuries in almost any sport.  That’s why Yoga places specific intention and awareness to building the muscle around the joints and stabilizing the most vulnerable parts of the body. If the teachers aren’t guiding their students in this direction of stabilization these parts of the body will be the ones affected and injured.  So again, it’s very important for teachers to skills to speak intelligently to align, stabilize and elongate the body.

NYT: One of the most vocal reformers is Roger Cole, an Iyengar teacher with degrees in psychology from Stanford and the University of California, San Francisco. Cole has written extensively for Yoga Journal and speaks on yoga safety to the American College of Sports Medicine. In one column, Cole discussed the practice of reducing neck bending in a shoulder stand by lifting the shoulders on a stack of folded blankets and letting the head fall below it. The modification eases the angle between the head and the torso, from 90 degrees to perhaps 110 degrees. Cole ticked off the dangers of doing an unmodified shoulder stand: muscle strains, overstretched ligaments and cervical-disk injuries.

Nicole: Yes… a vote for props!  Why is it in today’s society and in yoga rooms around the world, we are seeing the absence of props?  Somewhere along the line people decided it was not cool to use them. We hear it all the time.  That is the ego.  Props are amazing. Like red is the new black – props are the new cool!

Blocks and blankets for instance are props and they are used to support your body while practicing yoga postures and to help modify certain poses as you learn them. Other props that you may find in a studio are straps and bolsters. If a teacher hands you a prop, this does not mean that you are not a good student. For instance, all levels and age ranges of people use props to:
•    help them safely into or out of a posture
•    protect the body from injury
•    provide support during balance postures
•    create a method for total relaxation
•    improve alignment and create extension in the spine
•    offer assistance while injured
•    keep your body in balance if one side is less flexible than the other
•    release old habits and improve a posture

For example, blocks can be used under the hands in standing poses like triangle pose so that students can place their hand on flat surface if they can’t reach the ground quite yet due to tight hamstrings.

Straps for example are often used in shoulder openers to assist students with tight shoulders, but this is certainly not their only use. Students can create a loop around their arms with the strap to allow proper alignment in handstands, too.
Blankets can also be used for many different purposes but are most often used under the shoulders in shoulder-stand to alleviate any potential risks with the neck by providing space for the cervical spine to be in its natural curve and alignment.

Don’t be afraid to use props or ask a teacher how to modify a pose using props if something doesn’t feel quite right. When your body is in alignment, you can actually get deeper into your practice and will progress in a healthier and more effective way.

For the full version of the New York Times article click HERE.

YOGI SEASONAL FOOD CLEANSE

Winter – 14 Days

NEW DATE – moved it back because of people’s holiday schedules
Monday, January 16th – Sunday, January 29th

It’s time to cleanse after all the holiday cheer! Join our professional team of yogis for a 14 Day Yogi Seasonal Food Cleanse designed to align your physical and energetic bodies as the weather and season changes.  You will learn how to detoxify and heal the body through the use of local, organic, sustainable food and use our yoga practice to further eliminate toxins and boost your immune system in preparation for the holiday and flu season.  This is the ultimate “foodie” cleanse!  No starving here, just wholesome clean foods that will make you feel better than ever!  We hope that after participating in the 14 Day Yogi Seasonal Food Cleanse, you will attain the knowledge that will guide you toward long term healthier practices and an enhanced life!

14 Day Cleanse Includes:

• PDF workbook including a detailed description of the cleanse, expert advice on how to succeed and get the most out of the cleanse, journal templates, 2 week sample menu, shopping lists, list of local farmers markets and organic markets, vegan restaurant guide, delicious seasonal vegan recipes and more.One in-person group q & a meeting (optional attendance)
• Daily outdoor yoga classes at “Bronson Canyon Yoga” geared specifically toward the cleansing process. ** If you are out of town or pay for yoga elsewhere you can still join the cleanse (choose “no yoga” option below)
• Email forum/Facebook
• Yoga class the day before cleanse start date, plus optional Q & A

Testimonials from our past cleanse groups!

Save the Date:
Sunday, January 15th
9:00am optional Q & A; 9:30am class

Price:
$80 – $120
(see options below)
nic@nicolepresents.com

Yogi Seasonal Food Cleanse

New Cleanse Member – No Yoga $80.00 USD New Cleanse Member – Includes Yoga $120.00 USD Cleanse Member – Recipe Addendum $40.00 USD Trade for Services (Email Us) $0.00 USD

Join Nicole & Chrissy for a yoga/hike excursion in the hills of Bronson Canyon.  This 90-minute journey will combine the cardiovascular elements of hiking with the mindful practice of yoga and meditation.  We will warm up with some breath work and sun salutations, then journey through nature and into the deepest parts of ourselves.  Throughout the hike, we will stop to stretch & release tension from the body.  Towards the end, we will cool down with some restoratives and meditation, concluding a well-rounded mind and body experience.

What to bring: Wear sneakers. Bring a towel & water. No mat required.
Where to meet: Just past the parking lot on the right. 3200 Canyon Drive
What if it rains: When you pay, I will email you to exchange # numbers.
You will be refunded or credited for your next hike.
Meeting time: 8:30a

RESERVE YOUR SPACE FOR THIS AWESOME FUN!

VISIT US “BRONSON CANYON YOGA”

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