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Etiquette Schmetiquette: Student Edition

OK Yogis, I get it.

We are:

Carefree and flexible in both body and spirit, we go with the flow, move like water, have open minds, open hips, seek to love and appreciate ourselves for who we are, see the light in all beings and sometimes we wear balloon pants and flowers in our hair. Yogis have become synonymously associated with granolas, the earth mother/father archetype, those that you see flocking to music festivals with face paint and third eye crystals, the ones who make funny shapes with their bodies to some music that others “just don’t understand.” That’s us, yep. The yogis. We’re probably off somewhere participating in a massage circle or looking for the newest brand of local, fair-trade, organic, raw, vegan…anything. Yes, that is us. Now I say this all with love and only partially in jest because yes, I am one of you! You are all in me! I see your light; you see mine, yadda yadda yadda, Namaste and all that jazz. BUT….

 

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Etiquette Schmetiquette: Teacher Edition

Instructors can be culprits of the strange and inappropriate during class time; float around in the ethers living off of sunshine and rainbows, a bundle of macramé so thick you can’t find their wrist.  Teachers might come across as militant dictators, sporting black spandex from head-to-toe, catwoman-like, not one strand of hair out of place…probably because they’re as rigid with their beauty regimen as they are in their practice.  Hey, there’s a flavor for every type of student and it’s important to stay true to your own voice both as you teach and as you choose a teacher.  However, guidelines do exist in helping us steer clear of offensive or bothersome behaviors.  As teachers we can also step into ritual, a sacred cycle, one that sets us up to remain accessible while, of course, leaving room for our own personal flair.

 

 Show up and start on time.  As a yoga instructor “on time” means 20...

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Energy Boost: Balancing the Ida & Pingala Nadis

Last month I wrote about one good reason to roll out of savasana by rolling to your left (high blood pressure, as stated in Anatomy of Hatha Yoga), but there are good reasons for coming out the more traditional way too.

In my own practice, I use the energetic ida and pingala energy lines to guide my exit from the pose and, more universally, to bring balance and integration into other elements of my day and life.

nadi ida & pingala Costa Rica Yoga teacher training

Ida nadi ends at the left nostril and is the lunar, cooling, feminine, yin, introspective energy channel. Pingala nadi ends at the tip of the right nostril and is the solar, masculine, heating, active yang element of the two twinned channels. These channels are said to criss-cross up from the base of the spine intersecting at each chakra.

Knowing about the ida and pingala nadis and their energetic effects, we can consciously harness the energy to bring a deeper state of balance and wholeness into our on- and off-the-mat experience. Throughout each day and night,...

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Practicing Mindfulness | Living Through the Four Agreements

lifestyle philosophy tips yoga | Posted Nov 09, 2020

Maybe you practice yoga three or four times a week, or even every day. When you’re in class with that teacher you can’t get enough of, you feel like you’re on top of the world. You can feel your true Self shining through more and more each day, and your body and mind feel healthier than ever! That feeling is like no other, yet sometimes, once we step off of the mat and back into the real world, that feeling can quickly fade.

Whether it’s an argument with a friend or loved one that pushed you to your limits, or someone cutting you off in traffic causing you to nearly crash, holding your zen can seem impossible in the world we live in. Daily life can test our inner peace, and as yogis we hope to carry that calm essence with us as long as possible. That’s where the The Four Agreements, created by Don Miguel Ruiz come in handy! The book is centered around four simple concepts that can be used as a daily guideline or reference point. When applied mindfully,...

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Consent & Communication in Yoga Class

lifestyle tips yoga | Posted Nov 09, 2020

Original Piece by Avani | 2016

There are multiple ways of obtaining permission.  If you’re concerned about consent and being a compassionate space holder, you may choose to employ more than one of the below options.  Which ones will work best for you in a studio setting?

 1.) Silent Consent: Students place stickers or totems on the top corner of their mat

2.) Verbal Consent: Students are asked during a private pose in class or one-by-one privately as they enter the class whether or not they give permission for hands-on touch.

3.) Written Consent: Students sign waivers that cover a broad range of scenarios and a broad timeline.

Getting consent before any type of touch is vital for safety, clarity and liability for all.  Put yourself in the position of the student.  And remember also, you have no idea about their background or what they’re landing on the mat with. Communication, as they say, is key.

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Basics of Ayurveda: The Science and Knowledge of Life

Ayurveda can be defined as “The science of the knowledge of life.” Ayurveda is closely connected to yoga and is an ancient system for living. It’s been around almost as long as yoga and it too originated in India.

Ayurveda is a holistic art and science that seeks to find balance in life. It does this by categorizing people into groups based on their unique habits, personality and behaviors. There are three doshas: Vata, Pitta and Kapha. The idea is once you see when and where you might be over saturated in a particular dosha you can analyze how it might serve you to add in a bit of the other two doshas to balance yourself out. It’s really full of common sense.

It’s interesting to read about each dosha and discover which one you lean towards! Let’s look at the 3 unique dosha’s.

The qualities of Vata are cold, light, dry, irregular, rough, moving, quick and changeable. Vata personalities tend to be lively and enthusiastic, slim and wiry, with...

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What Is Functional Yoga?

anatomy functional yoga tips workshops yoga | Posted Aug 16, 2020

What is Functional Yoga? 

Original Piece by Avani | 2016

Functional Yoga is a term you’ll hear a lot around AmaSer, whether dropping in on public yoga classes or living on site for yoga teacher training.   This is a somewhat new term in the field of yoga (considering the loooong history of the practice), though it is certainly not a new idea.  The history of teaching anatomical alignment in the West served a purpose: to standardize the yoga poses in order to spread the study of yoga more effectively…and to more people much more quickly.  Some of the cues for alignment work with a large population of bodies.  And some do not (for example the dreaded: “shin parallel to the top of the mat” cue).  This concept of standardizing is not uniquely Western.  Iyengar Yoga as well as Yoga Works have sought to standardize these cues for decades.

There was a time that yoga was in such high demand that it was difficult for yoga studios...

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