When I think back to my teen years and early twenties, it boggles my mind that I was able to maintain the lifestyle I did. I moved fast, stayed up late, worked a high-intensity job in the film industry, lived on caffeine and cigarettes, and partied a lot. I was young and didn’t have kids. I was still a kid myself in a lot of ways, but when I got an ulcer, I knew it was time to make some adjustments. Or more accurately, my older sister told me I needed to.

Late one night, in a steamy room in Santa Monica, my sister, Jennifer, took me to my first power yoga class. I had done asana many times up to that point, but it was mostly on video at home or in gym settings. I had never done fast-paced and strong yoga like this. Sweat was pouring out of me from my first Downward-Facing Dog, and even though it was ten at night when class got out, I was buzzing. It was the best I had felt in years, and after just a few weeks of attending classes almost every day, I quickly became aware of the discordances between my old life and my desired new one.

Naturally, as someone with an addictive personality, I overcorrected at first. Rather than going out drinking five nights a week and chain-smoking all day, I discovered Ashtanga yoga and centered my entire life around it to the point that I had no room for anything or anyone else. Instead of living on microwaveable meals, I became so austere about my food choices that I decided I should be vegan and gluten free (even though I’ve never been diagnosed with a gluten intolerance). Also, it is worth noting that I am naturally anemic; multiple providers have begged me to eat meat. Not to mention that I was still actively bulimic during this period, so despite my strict “healthy” diet Monday to Friday, when Saturday or Sunday would roll around, I continued to binge and purge, which many times included over-exercising like doubling up on super strong movement classes.

I managed to get away with this “healthy” lifestyle for years, but as I began assisting and eventually leading teacher trainings, I started educating myself more deeply on the study of Ayurveda and I realized that just because my choices appeared good on paper or worked for others did not mean they were the right choices for me or my body. The clearest indicators that things were amiss were my high anxiety, insomnia, extraordinarily dry skin and hair, my quick-to-anger impulses (particularly on Los Angeles’s freeways), and my absentmindedness and lightning speed, which led to multiple car accidents on those same aforementioned freeways.

It also included my constantly upset tummy and hypersensitivity to everything around me. Oh, and let’s not forget to mention the fact that I hadn’t had a menstrual cycle in years.

As I sat in a lecture on Ayurveda one training, the master teacher listed off these very traits. She said that people who experience this are likely “vata types” and that when these traits were active, it was actually an indicator that the person was off balance. She spoke of the fact that many of us are attracted to the very things that send us off balance (hence my love for Ashtanga yoga and caffeine), but that in the Ayurveda system, opposites are what heal.

Over time, with the help of friends who intensively study Ayurveda and many, many books on the matter, I started to course correct. I adjusted my eating, adding in way more fats and oils and reintroducing meat. (Please note, I’m not advocating that you eat similarly. These were just the changes I needed to make at that point in time.) I adjusted my asana, favoring a much more grounded and slower pace to my obsessive and austere Ashtanga yoga habit. I started to let in a little more pleasure, including dating.

Fatefully, my menstrual cycle returned right before I met my husband (like, literally weeks before), and I was able to get pregnant and give birth to two healthy boys. I am no expert on the subject of Ayurveda, but even the little that I practice has helped me find the balance I have been seeking my entire life.
Ayurveda is an incredibly rich and extensive subject that people dedicate their entire lives to following and understanding. I have barely scraped the surface’s surface in my studies thus far, but it has given me a lens through which I can understand myself more deeply.

Something as simple as paying attention to when I should stop consuming caffeine during the daytime so I don’t disrupt my sleep can have a tremendous effect on my overall well-being and my relationship with my kids.

My practices of Ayurveda and yoga have helped me be a better parent, because when I feel my best, I parent my best.

The Yoga of Parenting

From The Yoga of Parenting by Sarah Ezrin © 2023. Reprinted in arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Inc. Boulder, CO. www.shambhala.com

Sarah Ezrin

Sarah Ezrin is the author of The Yoga of Parenting: Ten Yoga-Based Practices to Help You Stay Grounded, Connect with Your Kids, and Be Kind to Yourself. She is a freelance writer, yoga educator, and content creator based in the Bay Area. Her willingness to be unabashedly honest and vulnerable along with her innate wisdom, make her writing, teaching, and social media great sources of healing and connection for many people.
Sarah brings a wide spectrum of life experiences into everything she does. She is unafraid of sharing all sides of herself. She does so in the hope of giving others permission to be their most authentic self. At this time, when honest self-awareness is so important, Sarah’s is an essential and exemplary voice.
Sarah writes extensively on the subjects of yoga, parenting, and mental health, often interweaving these themes. Her work ranges from heavily-reported assignments to personal essays to blog content for brands. She is a regular contributor for Yoga Journal Magazine, Motherly, Yoga International, Healthline, Scary Mommy, Mind Body Green, Mantra Magazine, and LA Yoga Magazine. She has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes Magazine, Bustle, LA Weekly, and NBC News.

Sarah is a well-respected yoga teacher and a leader in the wellness community. A world traveler since birth, she has led trainings, workshops, and retreats locally and across the globe.

www.sarahezrinyoga.com

The post Thoughts on Practice: an Excerpt from The Yoga of Parenting appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Healing is an Inside Job and Melanie Salvatore-August’s Book, Yoga to Support Immunity, Gives you the Tools

“Healing comes from within. We have the power to heal ourselves—no one else can do it for us; it is truly an inside job,” says Melanie Salvatore-August in Yoga to Support Immunity: Mind, Body, Breathing Guide to Whole Health. In 2014, Melanie Salvatore-August (“Mama Mel”) gave birth to her third child. She had just turned 42 years old. Although she was blessed with three uncomplicated pregnancies and healthy babies, she came out the other side of this last birth a shell of herself.

Melanie Salvatore-August and Her Story of Healing

Salvatore-August had it all: three beautiful boys, popular classes and teacher trainings, two published books, a strong yoga practice, an eco-friendly home, and a loving partner. But the pressure to maintain it, to be this kind of “superwoman,” as she described to LA Yoga, began to take its toll. In taking care of so many other people, she would often treat her body more as a machine than a temple, and her health began to deteriorate.

What began as mild discomfort in her hips developed into chronic pain and stiffness. By the time her son was born, she had pneumonia in both lungs and was covered in silver dollar-size hives. As she was often multi-tasking when preparing food for and feeding the family, she was completely out of touch with her hunger signals. She was either over-eating or forgetting to eat altogether. Emotionally, she was quick to anger and easily agitated and she was constantly exhausted even after a full night’s sleep.

Of course, none of these symptoms developed overnight. They were years in the making, the most severe of which began immediately after birthing her second son almost five years prior. But where before Salvatore-August was once able to push past many of her body’s messages, her body started screaming to be heard and she finally heeded her own oft-spoken words, “I just can’t do this anymore.”

After extensive medical testing, Salvatore-August was diagnosed with the autoimmune disorder Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.
This was confusing for her at first. By all accounts she was “healthy.” She ate a mostly organic, plant-based diet and was a yoga teacher by trade who practiced every day. She had just written a book called “Fierce Kindness”, which was all about living selflessly and being of service to the world, which she tried to practice in all aspects of her life.

We Are Active Participants in Our Own Health

As Salvatore-August told LA Yoga, “I don’t think anyone ever said, ‘Hey, Mel you need to be beautiful, smiling, radiantly healthy, while rearing smart perfectly happy children, keeping a spotlessly clean and eco-friendly home, staying madly in love with your husband and showing up every day for others with an inspiring quote on your tongue.’ Yet somewhere inside that was what I pushed for.”

Push being the operative word. Prior to her diagnosis, her entire life was a push forward. Pushing through strong practices, pushing to write her books, pushing her schedule to the brink.

What the autoimmune disorder diagnosis finally revealed, was that immunity is not just something we passively experience. We are active participants in our health, and it starts with the choices we make every single day. Immunity comes from the food we eat, the types of movement we engage in, even the thoughts we hold. Immunity also changes throughout our lifetime. What once served us, may no longer be appropriate as we get older or life circumstances change. In fact, those choices may now be depleting and damaging.

Seven years later, Salvatore-August is at the top of her health. She still battles with flare-ups, including recently having lost all of her eyelashes or re-developing hives during a period of particular depletion, but where before she treated her body as an enemy she needed to outsmart and fight against, she truly lives what she had been teaching so many students around the world for so many years: Our body is our greatest ally in our healing.

It was this journey that inspired her third book, Yoga to Support Immunity.

Small Acts Create Big Changes

The shift from Salvatore-August feeling energetically bankrupt and as though “the bottom was falling out” towards optimal health took time and commitment. It was not as though her diagnosis came with a cure, as most autoimmune disorders are incurable. Although there is medicinal support. Instead, Salvatore-August started with slow, small changes, that added up over the years.

First, she brought awareness and clarity to the behaviors that had become habitual. She observed that a lot of the choices that once served her were now harming her. Most importantly, she began to listen to her body’s natural cues. For example, doing light yoga and healing kriyas when she was tired, rather than powering through a long flow. Resting instead of going out. Learning the power of ‘no’ and mustering the courage to ask for help.

Diet, Yoga and Healing

But the most powerful healing perhaps came from her diet. Although it had been mainly organic, and plant-based, it still contained a lot of foods that can lead to inflammation, such as gluten, diary, sugar, alcohol, and even caffeine. (Which she humorously shares throughout her book that she still enjoys in small increments!). The Anti-inflammatory Protocol Diet has been shown to mitigate certain auto-immune symptoms. So Salvatore-August spent time eliminating the foods that left her feeling ill or wired and learning which foods that helped her feel whole and nourished.

In Yoga to Support Immunity, Salvatore-August guides readers through a similar healing process. First, she offers ways to cultivate awareness of one’s habits and teaches readers how to pay attention to their bodily cues. The second part of the process is a bit of a detoxification as the body recalibrates based on those cues. Finally, Salvatore-August, offers how to integrate these changes into reader’s lives.

Only One Thing? Do This!

She sets readers up for success from the go, making sure the changes are do-able and accomplishable. For example, she offers condensed versions of the sequences into three-minute offerings and concludes each section with a handy Cliff’s Notes-style round-up, entitled “Only one thing? Do this.”

But what makes this book so powerful, is not just the amount of research and science-based evidence Salvatore-August provides, but that Mama Mel (as her friend’s lovingly call her) lives this every single day. In fact, she ends the book with a sample schedule of her current daily life to share with readers the intentional and self-compassionate choices that she makes every day.

Most importantly, the schedule she shares is not only one readers may want to strive for, but one can they can accomplish, through small acts over time. But really it is Mama Mel’s loving tone and humorous honesty that helps readers feel seen and supported. This may be the most healing part of the book: knowing that someone has walked this path and is there to now walk you along it, too.

Yoga to Support Immunity: Mind, Body, Breathing Guide to Whole Health

This book By Melanie Salvatore-August was released June 29, 2021. At the time of this article it has held its spot as #1 New Release in Homeopathy & Preventative Medicine since its release. For more information, including where to order, visit Mango Publishing’s website to buy Yoga to Support Immunity. For more information on Melanie Salvatore-August, visit her website: https://www.melaniesalvatoreaugust.com.

Sarah Ezrin

Sarah Ezrin is the author of The Yoga of Parenting: Ten Yoga-Based Practices to Help You Stay Grounded, Connect with Your Kids, and Be Kind to Yourself. She is a freelance writer, yoga educator, and content creator based in the Bay Area. Her willingness to be unabashedly honest and vulnerable along with her innate wisdom, make her writing, teaching, and social media great sources of healing and connection for many people.
Sarah brings a wide spectrum of life experiences into everything she does. She is unafraid of sharing all sides of herself. She does so in the hope of giving others permission to be their most authentic self. At this time, when honest self-awareness is so important, Sarah’s is an essential and exemplary voice.
Sarah writes extensively on the subjects of yoga, parenting, and mental health, often interweaving these themes. Her work ranges from heavily-reported assignments to personal essays to blog content for brands. She is a regular contributor for Yoga Journal Magazine, Motherly, Yoga International, Healthline, Scary Mommy, Mind Body Green, Mantra Magazine, and LA Yoga Magazine. She has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes Magazine, Bustle, LA Weekly, and NBC News.

Sarah is a well-respected yoga teacher and a leader in the wellness community. A world traveler since birth, she has led trainings, workshops, and retreats locally and across the globe.

www.sarahezrinyoga.com

The post Melanie Salvatore-August Shares Tips on Yoga to Support Immunity appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Tribute to Teacher Lesley Fightmaster

There are some people in this world who shine so brightly that when they are gone, the world feels a little dimmer. Lesley Fightmaster was one of those people.

Lesley could light up a room even when she was not physically in it. Life felt sweeter simply by seeing her smile on a computer screen, which is how she taught to most of her students. She was a mother, a wife, a dedicated yogini and yoga teacher, and an incredible friend.

Lesley took her first teacher training at YogaWorks in 2006. She was drawn to teaching because she loved yoga and was seeking community, having just moved to Orange County from San Francisco. It was in that training where she met some of her closest girlfriends – “the posse”, as they call themselves. Kim Haegele, who was one of her first yoga teachers in Orange County and later became a dear friend, says this of “Les” (as her friends call her), “Les had a huge, beautiful heart that held her family, friends and students in its embrace, and we all felt it. Her passion for yoga was evident in her teaching; she shined her bright light and enthusiasm onto her students and was, in turn, beloved by them.”

And beloved she was. Lesley’s rise to success was meteoric, but she remained humble along the journey. Shortly after her teacher training, she was hired by YogaWorks to teach on the schedule and led classes there for a number of years, including teaching their world-renowned teacher trainings. She even held a brief position on the sales and marketing side of teacher trainings, but it was her unexpected success with YouTube that led her to become an online yoga sensation.

Lesley did not set out to become a YouTube star. Her fame happened mostly through happenstance. In 2012, she and her husband, Duke, shot their first yoga video as an experiment. Duke had bought a new camera to film a screenplay and wanted to shoot Lesley teaching a yoga class to practice using his new equipment. As Lesley explained to LA Yoga Magazine in a previous interview, they uploaded it to YouTube “and promptly forgot all about it.” Her words perfectly capturing her humility and humor. Nine months later they were surprised to see that the video had received quite a bit of views and in 2013 they began to upload videos more regularly.

Since that first video posted, Lesley’s YouTube channel, now has over 600k subscribers. Her top video has garnered over 1 million views. Ever modest, Lesley chocked her success up to timing, but anyone that has taken Lesley’s class or knows her personally, knows that she was pre-destined for greatness, whether it would be through yoga, or not. Randy Allard, a member of “the posse” and former teacher manager for YogaWorks, Orange County told LA Yoga, “what I will hold on to is her warmth and smile. My heart is broken; truly broken.  Losing my best girl is just unbearable. She was a star. No question.”

At the beginning of 2019, Lesley started her own membership site called MyYogaPal. There she offers a variety of 90-day premium programs from beginner to advanced levels. Lesley was proudest of the community feature, “Gratitude Corner”, where people can practice actively expressing gratitude.

Though she has achieved much in her career, her greatest accomplishment is her children. Her two sons, Stone and Indy (Indiana).

So, while yes, things may feel a little duller right now as the yoga community processes the news of her sudden passing, she is actually not gone at all. Her light shines on through her family and friends and through that beautiful smile that continues to beam for so many people online.

At the end of her introduction video on the Fightmaster Yoga YouTube channel, Lesley tells us that our yoga practice can create, “a loving, positive energy that will spread throughout (our) world” and that the greatest benefit of our practice is the community and friendships we form. She continues, “when you make positive changes, they affect everyone around you, making the world better because of you.”

Les, thank you for sharing your love and positive energy. The world is better because of you.

***

We would like to share Lesley’s final words from our previous interview, “Duke & I are very grateful for each yogi who practices our Fightmaster Yoga YouTube videos. We’re beyond grateful for every member of MyYogaPal. It is an absolute honor to be a part of each yogi’s journey – especially during this difficult time.”

Sarah Ezrin

Sarah Ezrin is the author of The Yoga of Parenting: Ten Yoga-Based Practices to Help You Stay Grounded, Connect with Your Kids, and Be Kind to Yourself. She is a freelance writer, yoga educator, and content creator based in the Bay Area. Her willingness to be unabashedly honest and vulnerable along with her innate wisdom, make her writing, teaching, and social media great sources of healing and connection for many people.
Sarah brings a wide spectrum of life experiences into everything she does. She is unafraid of sharing all sides of herself. She does so in the hope of giving others permission to be their most authentic self. At this time, when honest self-awareness is so important, Sarah’s is an essential and exemplary voice.
Sarah writes extensively on the subjects of yoga, parenting, and mental health, often interweaving these themes. Her work ranges from heavily-reported assignments to personal essays to blog content for brands. She is a regular contributor for Yoga Journal Magazine, Motherly, Yoga International, Healthline, Scary Mommy, Mind Body Green, Mantra Magazine, and LA Yoga Magazine. She has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes Magazine, Bustle, LA Weekly, and NBC News.

Sarah is a well-respected yoga teacher and a leader in the wellness community. A world traveler since birth, she has led trainings, workshops, and retreats locally and across the globe.

www.sarahezrinyoga.com

The post Remembering Lesley Fightmaster appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

The Business of Online Yoga Classes

In this new frontier of virtual yoga, teachers are finding themselves having to adapt quickly in order to survive. For some, the transition online has been seamless, building on their already established platforms. For others used to the simplicity of showing up to teach a class and then going straight home, the change has been a bit more daunting as many teachers find themselves now faced with business responsibilities once held by the studio. The biggest adjustment may be having to navigate the financial side of leading daily and weekly classes— particularly when it comes to deciding how and if to charge for those classes, a decision that not only affects their students’ pocketbooks but their own livelihood.

Online yoga as a whole is still somewhat new. The original online yoga giants, Glo (then known as YogaGlo) and YogaVibes debuted in 2008 and 2009 respectively, which is also right around when YouTube gained popularity. In that short time, numerous companies have joined the virtual fitness bandwagon, some surpassing the original titans in reach and usership. Livestreaming classes is an even more recent development in the world of online yoga. It was generally done from brick-and-mortar yoga studios, but since the COVID-19 outbreak of 2020, it has become ubiquitous, with instructors streaming directly from their living rooms.

Yoga Teacher as Business Manager & Online Class Financials

Suddenly, many teachers who had no interest or little experience with virtual yoga found themselves scrambling to move their businesses online. And, in addition to deciding how they would share their classes (e.g., Zoom, Facebook Live/IG Live, YouTube, or another platform), they had to figure out how they would charge. Would they adopt a donation-based model? Or ask for a flat rate? Would they charge at all considering that many people had lost their jobs and that, at the time, shelter-in-place restrictions were only supposed to last a few weeks? And if they did, how would they go about collecting payments?

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with a number of teachers to discuss the various ways they are navigating the financial side of their online businesses. Though they are each doing things uniquely, one common thread ran through every interview: Each teacher has had to continually adapt, and it is in their willingness to do so that they are able to survive.

Filming Yoga Courtesy of Leslie Fightmaster

Earning Through YouTube

Lesley Fightmaster is no stranger to teaching yoga online. Starting her YouTube channel in 2012, Fightmaster now has over 590,000 followers. While YouTube is free for viewers, creators can earn money in a few different ways. Most popular is running ads on your channel or before your videos. Keep in mind that the payout is extremely small, with Fightmaster estimating the amount to be one-third of a cent per view. Some creators work with specific advertisers in hopes of boosting revenue, and Fightmaster had some success doing this in the past, but she prefers to work with brands she really uses and loves and that can be limiting.

In the past, Fightmaster also attempted a donation-based approach through asking for contributions after her YouTube classes, but it was not financially feasible for her family of two boys (versus earning through advertising), nor did she feel comfortable asking. Since throughout the pandemic, she has been leading a free weekly class, followed by a Q&A.

Pros: Wide audience reach.
Cons: May take a long time to earn a living, if this is he only source of income.

Free to Access

Sean Haleen has been traveling the United States teaching for well over a decade. He currently leads multiple group classes and private sessions weekly on Zoom and serendipitously joined YouTube just before the pandemic. Haleen shares his classes in a manner that he calls “free to access” in response to how many students were financially hit by the coronavirus. Though he offers his classes for free, through his existing communications with students and the “about” section on his YouTube channel, he does mention that donations for online yoga classes are optional. In lieu of money, he asks people to consider subscribing to his page and/or sharing his teaching schedule with others, explaining that those actions are also “a form of compensation and actually lead to quite a few new students.” Haleen notes that offering classes for free or lowering prices for those unable to afford yoga may not be the right model for everyone, as many teachers themselves can be low-income earners. However, he feels that the teachers doing well financially “have more of an imperative to create accessible content because it affects their livelihoods less.”

Pros: Being of service.
Cons: Only possible with other sources of income.

Donation-Based Classes

Veteran teacher Whitney Allen has been leading in-person yoga classes since 2003, but joined the online yoga world more recently with filmed classes on Wanderlust (now Commune) in 2016. During the pandemic, Allen has mostly been teaching through Instagram Live, as that is where she already had the most contact with her students. So the transition felt simple, although she also teaches classes on Zoom.

As she considers her teaching as being of service, she prefers offering her classes in free-to-use formats, but she also acknowledges that she relies on donations for income, gratefully accepting any contributions. While the system is currently working for her, she notes that people seem to be donating less than at the beginning of the pandemic, which can be scary. Still, Allen does not “police people” about paying and encourages them to take class even if finances are tight and they aren’t able to donate much.

Hillary Skibell, a life coach and yoga teacher based in Marin County, California, chose a donation-based approach both to make her classes financially accessible, and because it felt uncomplicated at a time of much uncertainty. She and her students had to switch to this new livestream format almost “overnight,” and collecting donations through Venmo allowed her to dive right in.

At first, Skibell saw the donation-based model as a short-term experiment, but now that it is clear that virtual classes will be a part of her long-term business plan, she will likely be moving to a set rate. Still, Skibell considers her time using the donation model successful, sharing that there were many days she earned more than if her classes were a fixed cost.

Pros: Makes classes accessible to people of all means.
Cons: Unreliable source of income. Can feel like an uneven exchange.

Home Yoga Studio Photo by Joan Hyman

Pay-Per-Class Honor System

Others are successfully charging for classes based on “an honor system,” as Los Angeles-based teacher trainer Tiffany Russo calls it. This is where teachers say their class costs a specific amount, but still give free access to their teaching content, leaving it up to the student to follow through and pay. Russo made the shift from donation-based yoga to the honor system three months into quarantine when she realized that virtual teaching was here to stay.

While it is not “foolproof,” Russo finds the energy exchange “cleaner.” When she charges a flat rate, she feels properly compensated for the amount of energy she puts into preparing and leading her online yoga classes, versus with the donation model, where many students do not pay anything or pay very little. Another motivation for her to make the move to a clear price was that the donation model didn’t feel financially sustainable. That said, it was very important to Russo to set a price that is affordable for her students, while still charging enough to make ends meet.

YogaWorks teacher Jocelyn Solomon is also using the honor system approach. Solomon never even considered the donation model, musing that it “disempowers teachers by leaving the discernment to place value on their teaching to an outside source.” Like Russo, she prefers the clarity of charging a set amount. Solomon actually started with Zoom’s webinar feature, which included a paywall that students needed to pass through before receiving the link to her class. She switched to Zoom’s meeting option and is now using the honor system because she wanted more interaction with her students.

To ensure students pay for online yoga classes, Solomon has clear languag on her website but is also very open to making exceptions, just as she did pre-coronavirus—like when “guesting” someone in a class, which is when a teacher can have someone take their class at a studio for free.

Pros: Clear energy exchange.
Cons: Not everyone pays.

Paywalls for Online Yoga Classes

For internationally recognized yoga teacher Joan Hyman, going online has had some great benefits. Prior to the pandemic she was getting on a plane every week, whereas now she has access to her students from all around the world in one place. Part of Hyman’s success was her ability to adapt quickly. In the very beginning, she taught a free weekly class through YouTube and a “pay-what-you-can” class on Zoom, but the moment she sensed lockdown extending and saw travel bans being put in place, she moved all of her offerings online, leading the pack by offering big-ticket items virtually, including workshops and retreats.

As her virtual offerings expanded, Hyman decided to invest in paywall software (versus individually collecting payments through a platform like Venmo), which is a way for you to restrict access to online content unless paid. Hyman discusses why she made the move, saying, “It’s hard to be a business manager and keep track of everyone’s classes. It takes a lot of work to keep up the accounting. Acuity has helped me organize all payments, keep track of students’ classes, and send links to students to join.” Some teachers also find using paywalls more professional than Venmo and PayPal.

Another popular paywall software that teachers are using is Momoyoga. It is important to keep in mind that there are monthly fees for any of these services, so unless you’re teaching multiple classes or have other offerings, such as classes for purchase or workshops and trainings, it may not make financial sense. There is also the aspect of having to learn a new technology and transitioning your current system over to a new one. Hyman suggests getting help setting these up if needed, offering the advice, “Stick to what you know and pay someone for their skills to help your business grow.”

Pros: No uncomfortable money exchanges with students. Professional interface.
Cons: Having to learn a new technology. The cost of running the software.

A Whole New World

As I write this, we are now six months into this quarantine virtual-yoga existence, and though gyms and studios are slowly reopening, it is clear that many of the teachers who moved online are here to stay. And as they get more comfortable, many are shifting how they first offered and charged for classes and still may continue to do so. See, that’s the cool thing about this new virtual yoga world: It’s unchartered territory and, therefore, we can create whatever we would like. Anything is possible! Now if we can only figure out how to give virtual savasana adjustments.

Sarah Ezrin

Sarah Ezrin is the author of The Yoga of Parenting: Ten Yoga-Based Practices to Help You Stay Grounded, Connect with Your Kids, and Be Kind to Yourself. She is a freelance writer, yoga educator, and content creator based in the Bay Area. Her willingness to be unabashedly honest and vulnerable along with her innate wisdom, make her writing, teaching, and social media great sources of healing and connection for many people.
Sarah brings a wide spectrum of life experiences into everything she does. She is unafraid of sharing all sides of herself. She does so in the hope of giving others permission to be their most authentic self. At this time, when honest self-awareness is so important, Sarah’s is an essential and exemplary voice.
Sarah writes extensively on the subjects of yoga, parenting, and mental health, often interweaving these themes. Her work ranges from heavily-reported assignments to personal essays to blog content for brands. She is a regular contributor for Yoga Journal Magazine, Motherly, Yoga International, Healthline, Scary Mommy, Mind Body Green, Mantra Magazine, and LA Yoga Magazine. She has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes Magazine, Bustle, LA Weekly, and NBC News.

Sarah is a well-respected yoga teacher and a leader in the wellness community. A world traveler since birth, she has led trainings, workshops, and retreats locally and across the globe.

www.sarahezrinyoga.com

The post Online Yoga Classes: Payment Models from the Teacher’s View appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Sarah Ezrin practicing yoga at home. Photo by Emilie Bers.

Creating a supportive home yoga practice is essential

For many of us, our home yoga practice is not just how we keep our bodies healthy or minds clear, it is our safe haven. It is where we retreat into when we need to get away from the chaos of outside.

Recently, the stressors of the world have become so profound, they are permeating every area of our life. Making it much harder to find places to take refuge or find community. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, yoga studios have shut down. Beaches and public parks are closed.

Even our homes are no longer our sanctuaries, as they now must hold all the parts of our self that we could once leave at the door. Acting as our places of business, our children’s schools, our gym and yoga shala.

Sarah Ezrin practicing yoga at home. Photo by Emilie Bers.

How can you get away from it all when there is no where to physically go?

These are the times when we learn that the tranquility we seek actually comes from within. And, believe it or not, practicing yoga at home can be one of the best places to discover this.

When we do yoga at a studio, external distractions have been removed for us. Cell phones are prohibited. Talking is discouraged. The walls are often simple and plain. The doors shut, the lights are dimmed, and we are transported from our worries and into our practice. All of these elements make it easier to focus on the present, but the sterile studio environment is a far cry from real life.

Outside of the shala we are juggling stress, responsibility, distractions, and, as much as we hate to admit it, a complete lack of control. This is why doing yoga at home can be the best training for managing stress and staying focused.

At home, you are in the epicenter of chaos. Dogs are barking, babies are crying, bosses are emailing, children are asking questions, neighbors are being neighbors. Distractions abound in the forms of television, chocolate, and social media. Your to-do list is not just in your head; it is the laundry and dirty dishes right in front of you.

Not only is it possible to find peace in the middle of all that, this is the true work of the practice! Remaining inwardly focused, regardless of outside circumstances.

Here are some simple things you can do during your home asana practice to support shifting your attention from the outward toward the inward, particularly during times of high stress.

Sarah Ezrin practicing yoga at home. Block by Manduka. Photo by Emilie Bers.

5 Ways to Improve your Home Yoga Practice

1. Quality over quantity.

Fifteen minutes of a deeply focused practice is worth way more than an hour where you are not mentally present. Instead of defining a “full” practice as getting every pose in or moving for a certain length of time, think of a it as one where you are FULL of presence.

2. Designate a meeting time.

Set a standing daily meeting with yourself by blocking off your calendar. This will help create a boundary with work and prevent others from interrupting you. You are the most important person you can meet with. This meeting is mandatory.

3. Have a sense of humor.

You are going to get kicked offline mid-class. Your cat will sit on your mat just as you are jumping back to chaturanga. You will forget the sequence halfway through. Go with it! Enjoy simply being on your mat and see where your body takes you. Recognize that you are doing your best and laugh your way through it.

4. Use headphones or ear plugs.

Our brains process sound before any other sense. This means that what we hear is a direct line to our present moment. No wonder the neighbors drum solo is making your savasana challenging! Pull your attention inward by shutting off outside noise.

5. Incorporate your home.

Speaking of being interrupted, if your pets, children, or significant others are vying for your attention during your practice time, rather than trying to ignore them, include them! If you are a plant parent, surround your mat with your plant babies, to help nourish your breath as you move. Ask your spouse for an adjustment. Big dogs can be great props. Dogs or cats can help you feel as though you have a sangha, or community, practicing wih you.

We have a lot of stressors to manage these days as humans. Fortunately, we do not need the perfect mat or the quietest yoga studio to escape those stresses. We can find peace anywhere, anytime, because peace really comes from within. It is just a pause and a breath away.

Sarah Ezrin

Sarah Ezrin is the author of The Yoga of Parenting: Ten Yoga-Based Practices to Help You Stay Grounded, Connect with Your Kids, and Be Kind to Yourself. She is a freelance writer, yoga educator, and content creator based in the Bay Area. Her willingness to be unabashedly honest and vulnerable along with her innate wisdom, make her writing, teaching, and social media great sources of healing and connection for many people.
Sarah brings a wide spectrum of life experiences into everything she does. She is unafraid of sharing all sides of herself. She does so in the hope of giving others permission to be their most authentic self. At this time, when honest self-awareness is so important, Sarah’s is an essential and exemplary voice.
Sarah writes extensively on the subjects of yoga, parenting, and mental health, often interweaving these themes. Her work ranges from heavily-reported assignments to personal essays to blog content for brands. She is a regular contributor for Yoga Journal Magazine, Motherly, Yoga International, Healthline, Scary Mommy, Mind Body Green, Mantra Magazine, and LA Yoga Magazine. She has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes Magazine, Bustle, LA Weekly, and NBC News.

Sarah is a well-respected yoga teacher and a leader in the wellness community. A world traveler since birth, she has led trainings, workshops, and retreats locally and across the globe.

www.sarahezrinyoga.com

The post Doing a Home Yoga Practice during Stressful Times appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Human Connection Photo by Chelsea Heller

The End of the World as We Know it is an Opportunity for a New One

We took a walk outside today as a family. Armed with Clorox wipes and tiny bottles of hand sanitizer. The same bottles currently being sold on secondhand websites for hundreds of dollars. If there is any blessing to having a newborn during this COVID-19 crisis, it is a closet already stocked full of wet wipes and sanitizing products.

The streets of San Francisco are virtually deserted, other than families like us, whose dogs and children require fresh air and grass. I look down at my three-month-old son sleeping soundly. His cheeks jiggle as the stroller passes over bumps on the sidewalk. He is peacefully unaware of the insidious virus attacking our world and for a moment, when I look at him, I forget too.

Occasionally, people pass us, most in masks, and I notice that many make sure to walk as far away from us as possible. Averting their gaze, as if they could catch the virus through eye contact. While others go out of their way to smile and nod, desperate for connection.

Runners seem to cross the street to avoid passing us or maybe we do too without realizing. We come across a church with shuttered doors and a sign that all services are canceled.

“It feels like the end,” my husband comments.

Perhaps if you look around at the decimated supermarket shelves, the people in masks, the empty streets, it does feel like the end of the world.

But I think this could be a beginning, too.

A beginning of a new way of living.

As COVID-19 spreads like wildfire across our globe, it is hard not to think about anything else but the end of the world. To not let fear arise as we sit in the unknown of it all. To not panic and react. Or avoid and disconnect. Desperate to keep things as they were. As we knew them.

Yes, this will probably be the end of life as we now know it, but it is also an opportunity for a new life. An opportunity to learn about ourselves as humans. To come into a new way of being.

Human Connection Photo by Chelsea Heller

This is an opportunity to move at a new pace.

With the closing of schools, businesses, and travel, many people find themselves at home. Suddenly, the busy-ness culture that fuels the West has shifted. Fast food is being replaced with homemade. Running around with sitting still. Outsourcing with do it yourself.

Many of my friends and family members joke that they are “bored” even in the midst of chaos with kids at home and regular schedules upended. But inspiration can be found in boredom and in that space. What if this time was not a loss, but an opportunity for innovation and creativity? What if the schedules that we once packed to the gills with “have-to’s” were being cleared so that we could get clear on the essentials. Essentials including taking care of ourselves and those we love? What if we were being given the gift of time, together?

This is an opportunity to come together in new ways.

One of the more difficult things we are being made to do to prevent the virus from spreading further is “social distancing”. As human, we are being asked to go against our most basic need for connection.

Although we may not be able to see one another in person right now, we are learning how to connect differently. And in doing so, even more deeply. With our extra time we can finally make those phone calls we’ve been meaning to make. We are moving away from the shorthand texts and promises to hang out to which we had become accustomed. Now, we are really looking into one another’s eyes, even if it is through a screen.

This is also a rare moment in history when we are having the same global experience. It does not matter what country you are from, what race you are, the political party you identify with, or your sexual orientation. We are all fighting the same war. If we let it, this experience could bridge gaps and bring us closer together than ever.

This is an opportunity to take better care of ourselves and each other.

One of the greatest preventative measures is taking care of our health. This is not just about washing our hands or cleaning our homes. This about looking at how we are living our lives. The cleanliness of our friendships. The purity of our words. Our human connection. And the authenticity of our energy.

With the shortage of resources, we are more mindful in our consumption. With the limitation on commerce, we are supporting each other in different ways. With the reduction of pollution, we are seeing skies where we have not for a long time.

We are being reminded that what we do impacts others. That we are not alone; no matter how lonely we may feel. We need to take care of one another to survive. In learning how to take better care of ourselves, we are learning how to take care of each other.

This is an opportunity for a new world.

Before we know it, this will all pass. And it won’t really be the end of the world. Things will try to go back to “normal”, but they will never be the same.

And why would we want them to be?

To change will mean we have grown.

We have transformed.

We have begun again.

Sarah Ezrin

Sarah Ezrin is the author of The Yoga of Parenting: Ten Yoga-Based Practices to Help You Stay Grounded, Connect with Your Kids, and Be Kind to Yourself. She is a freelance writer, yoga educator, and content creator based in the Bay Area. Her willingness to be unabashedly honest and vulnerable along with her innate wisdom, make her writing, teaching, and social media great sources of healing and connection for many people.
Sarah brings a wide spectrum of life experiences into everything she does. She is unafraid of sharing all sides of herself. She does so in the hope of giving others permission to be their most authentic self. At this time, when honest self-awareness is so important, Sarah’s is an essential and exemplary voice.
Sarah writes extensively on the subjects of yoga, parenting, and mental health, often interweaving these themes. Her work ranges from heavily-reported assignments to personal essays to blog content for brands. She is a regular contributor for Yoga Journal Magazine, Motherly, Yoga International, Healthline, Scary Mommy, Mind Body Green, Mantra Magazine, and LA Yoga Magazine. She has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes Magazine, Bustle, LA Weekly, and NBC News.

Sarah is a well-respected yoga teacher and a leader in the wellness community. A world traveler since birth, she has led trainings, workshops, and retreats locally and across the globe.

www.sarahezrinyoga.com

The post Reflections on Human Connection in COVID-19 appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Sarah Ezrin and Students. Photo by Andy Blake.

Yoga Teachers Can Build Community in the Studio

We are in a time of great divide. How we act right now can either bring us closer together or send us further apart. It is easy to dig our heels into our respective corners and opinions, but it is much harder to reach across the aisle and see past our differences. Fortunately, there are sanctuaries where we can set aside our political and religious beliefs. Places where we can disrobe from the weight of our identities and come together on common ground – yoga. In yoga, we can find ways to build community with each and every practice.

The word yoga comes from the root word ‘yuj’, which means to unite or bind. People may think yoga means poses, but at its core, yoga is about uniting. It is where we learn to integrate all sides of our self: our body, breath, mind, and soul. Yoga is also where we can come to deeply understand that we are connected to all beings just as they are connected to us. It starts with breathing together and then, as we become more skillful about accessing the subtle, we start to literally sense each other’s energy as one.

As we become busier, we seem to be spending less time in yoga studios and classes. Still, students regularly remark to me that they wish there was more community.  People are craving connection.

Sarah Ezrin and Students. Photo by Andy Blake.

Creating an Environment of Connection

Yoga teachers have the privilege and responsibility to help facilitate this coming together. The tone we set in our classes can create an environment of connection.  This is one of the small ways we can give back to society at large — by helping to hold a space where people feel seen and where they feel safe to show themselves to others. We do not need to hold hands and sing “Kumbaya.” Building community in classes can be as simple as referring to the group as “yogis,” bonding individuals together in their common interest.

Yes, the world may feel increasingly divisive and yes, there are a lot of things trying to pull us apart. But there is a force that outpowers and outlasts any malevolence. That force is love. Let us help bring more love into this world, by helping bring people together!

Sarah Ezrin and Students. Photo by Andy Blake.

Here are 5 ways to help build community in your yoga class.

Maria LaValette and Attune + Align Students. https://marisalavalette.com/attune-align-yoga-teacher-training/

Learn people’s names.

Begin to see and honor individuals by name. This is a great way to help students feel that they belong. They are no longer strangers who just slip in and out of class. Students are seen. They are wanted. They are alive. When people are acknowledged it helps them feel a part of something.  Once you know names you can use them to give people shout-outs in class.  Some would argue that public praise reinforces an attachment to the practice or poses, but I am not referring to giving people compliments them every time they do some party trick. Instead, acknowledge effort or comprehension. Like when someone integrates a cue well or when they were incredibly focused in a pose.

Invite new students to introduce themselves to you.

At the end of every class, I re-introduce myself and encourage anyone new or who has been coming for a little while to come up and say “Hello.” This is one way I learn names, but it is also a way for people to feel welcome. I am often surprised how many people are willing to hang around for a moment to say hi. Even if I am speaking to another student, people wait patiently for their introduction. It is important in that moment to really be with that particular person. We can do this through eye contact and handshakes. It also helps to repeat the person’s name back to them. This will reinforce you learning names.

Have people introduce themselves to each other and add one fun fact.

I learned this from my teacher Annie Carpenter. Whenever her class is packed mat to mat, she asks students to introduce themselves to their neighbor.  This way, if they bump into one another during practice, they are now friends. I have added onto this exercise over the years by having people include one fun fact. For example, if it is raining, I ask them to share what they love about the rain. It makes for an extra minute or so before class gets going, but what is more important—another vinyasa or building community?

Connect students to others with similar interests in or experiences.

As people become more frequent regulars, teachers have the honor of learning more about their students. My favorite thing to do before class is to connect people with common interests. Some of my best friends were made at yoga and I love being able to facilitate those kinds of friendships. For example, I have a number of teacher training students in my classes from my past and current trainings. I will often introduce them and watch the conversations flourish. You never know when you will meet someone who will change your life and how cool if it were in your class!

Marisa LaVette Attune + Align Teacher Training. https://marisalavalette.com/attune-align-yoga-teacher-training/

Explain “Namaste.”

Most yoga teachers end their class with the traditional salutation “Namaste” and most students repeat it back, but do they really know what they are saying? Every once in a while, I take the time to explain to the students what it is we are actually saying. “Namaste” comes from the same root as the word “namaskar” and means to bow. However, we are saying much more than “I bow to you”. What we are saying is “I see you and you see me”.  Some teachers will translate the term as “The light in me bows to the light in you.” It is a recognition of the love inside all of us. An acknowledgement that underneath it all, we are the same. Remind students that this understanding is a way to build community.

Sarah Ezrin

Sarah Ezrin is the author of The Yoga of Parenting: Ten Yoga-Based Practices to Help You Stay Grounded, Connect with Your Kids, and Be Kind to Yourself. She is a freelance writer, yoga educator, and content creator based in the Bay Area. Her willingness to be unabashedly honest and vulnerable along with her innate wisdom, make her writing, teaching, and social media great sources of healing and connection for many people.
Sarah brings a wide spectrum of life experiences into everything she does. She is unafraid of sharing all sides of herself. She does so in the hope of giving others permission to be their most authentic self. At this time, when honest self-awareness is so important, Sarah’s is an essential and exemplary voice.
Sarah writes extensively on the subjects of yoga, parenting, and mental health, often interweaving these themes. Her work ranges from heavily-reported assignments to personal essays to blog content for brands. She is a regular contributor for Yoga Journal Magazine, Motherly, Yoga International, Healthline, Scary Mommy, Mind Body Green, Mantra Magazine, and LA Yoga Magazine. She has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes Magazine, Bustle, LA Weekly, and NBC News.

Sarah is a well-respected yoga teacher and a leader in the wellness community. A world traveler since birth, she has led trainings, workshops, and retreats locally and across the globe.

www.sarahezrinyoga.com

The post How to Build Community in Yoga Class  appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Maty Ezraty teaching. Courtesy of Sarah Ezrin

When I decided to take the YogaWorks teacher training in 2008, I had no idea the lineage I was entering. My trainers spoke of their teacher Maty Ezraty with such reverence, I knew that I had stumbled into something special.

I started studying Ashtanga yoga every single day, every single week at 4pm in the west room of YogaWorks Montana. The same slot that Maty taught for 17 years before selling the company just four years prior to my arrival. As the youngest child in my family, I always felt like I missed out on the glory days. Like I was a few years too late. And I sometimes felt that way with YogaWorks.

But Maty’s energy was so pervasive, it was still palpable in the room. Students and teachers alike would share their Maty stories with me. Although it would be a little over a year before I finally met her, I felt like she was already a part of me.

It is of no coincidence that the first time I had the privilege to learn from Maty was the same year my Mum died. And it was then I started calling her my teacher. I was incredibly nervous to study with her. My Ashtanga teacher began to prepare me for her arrival. It seemed like everyone in the room stood a little taller and worked a little harder, knowing she was coming.
I was shaking the first day I arrived in Maty’s room.

Standing in samasthiti (tadasana) dutifully awaiting this larger-than-life figure. I had not seen many pictures other than the backbend image outside of the Montana studio as she was not one for showiness. In bounced this tiny woman with long brown braids and saucer blue eyes. Her pants were so long she had to tuck them over heels like stirrups. We locked eyes and she smiled. There was no big introduction. She put her juice down and went right over to a student already midway into their practice, yelling “More, more!” And I was startled by this booming voice that was bigger than the frame.

I worked harder in that room than I had in my entire life. Not because she pushed me into the deepest expression of poses, but rather because she pulled me way back and asked me to find the work in the preparation. She gave me permission to not have to do the fancy shapes, which it felt like the yoga culture was moving towards. Instead, she taught me the hard work in simply showing up with all of my heart.

I had the privilege to study with Maty for 10 years. Although Maty may no longer be with us physically, but she will always be with us in our practices and our teaching. There are so many people, colleagues, yoga teachers who honor Maty Ezraty here and in so many other ways.

Students, Colleagues, Friends, and Fellow Teachers Honor  Maty Ezraty

Annie Carpenter

I guess I thought she’d always be here. To chat about a yoga pose, to complain with about the state of yoga these days, to enjoy one of her amazing meals, to prepare a coffee for her hoping it was good enough for her discerning coffee standards! To talk about love and relationships. To go shopping —gosh could she shop! And even just to know she was out there holding the ground of “Good Yoga.”

How many of us were touched by her passions? Ignited by her intelligence and fierceness? Inspired by her discipline and rigor? Scared, even, by her insistence??

What I will hold in my heart forever, placed there by Missy Maty: It’s ALL about the practice. It’s NOT about the poses. Hold the practice in your heart of hearts. Don’t take it too seriously. Eat well! Work hard, but make time for Savasana. Observe everything: with a discerning, critical eye —and with love. Honor your teachers. Breathe. And so much more…

Today, I am so sad and wish I had one more visit with my dear friend. Let this be a wake up call for me and all of us—stay close! Make time for those you love. With a broken heart, I send you love. And a promise that I will work to help create a gathering in LA soonish so we can come together and honor this AMAZING woman.

––Annie Carpenter, dear friend.

Matzy Ezraty photo by James Brown

James Brown

Last night I dreamt that I got to see Maty again. She had returned from some kind of retirement or other similar post-teaching life.  She had dyed her hair blonde, which looked surprisingly good. I think this signified that she has shifted forms, something I’d not been able to accept until this dream.

I told her I needed to say something before she went away again. She gave me her full attention, looking deeply into my eyes, just as she had done so many times while she was alive. I said to her, “I love you. I’m so sorry that I didn’t tell you how important the things you taught me have been to me.” Then I cried and she held my hands in hers, listening deeply and looking into my heart, as only she ever could.

I woke up from the dream feeling like I had just been with Maty. I don’t think her spirit visited me. But I also don’t think it’s ever left, nor that it ever will. I think that the part of her that is part of me was animated by my mind in sleep. The dream let me open my heart and pour out the words that I wish I’d said to Maty while she was alive.

Maty taught me, and so many other people, how to be fully alive. That’s a big part of why so many of us are not able to fathom this new reality. I finally got to say goodbye to her last night and I feel like I’m able to pick myself up now. To get back to teaching what she taught me, which is what she and I have always wanted.

Thank you, Maty— James Brown, longtime teaching assistant

Maryam Askari

Maty was my first yoga boss. She was my first yoga teacher. She was my first yoga friend. And then I was lucky enough to move on and keep her in my life as a tight connection. Maty’s dream was to spread yoga all over the planet, and she made that her lifelong goal – and she succeeded beyond! Now that she left us, she has left a piece of her heart all over the globe and her foot prints will guide the world of yoga forevermore.

—Maryam Askari, dear friend

Joan Hyman

Maty changed my life. She was a force. The moment I walked into her classroom 20 years ago, I knew deep inside I found a teacher. The first time I studied with her, her voice penetrated my being. Over the years, I continued to study and learn from her around the globe from India, Australia, New Zealand, and of course, Los Angeles.

Now I can hear her voice in my head as I move from pose to pose; she was a force that brought everything to the surface. When I teach, I feel her moving through me. Maty taught me how I could use my practice to keep my life on track and taught me how to teach yoga. She was an example of the dedication and devotion to the practice and the inner work. She made you walk the walk because she was the real deal. Much gratitude to this powerful woman who lived her most authentic life and influenced so many yogis worldwide. I love you Maty and may your spirit be FREE!

—Joan Hyman, longtime student

Dawn Stillo

I had the great good fortune to assist Maty for the past four years. I owe her the hugest debt of gratitude; all my yoga accomplishments are due to her. I got to know her on a personal side too. Maty was extremely concerned with the future of yoga. Especially the ill-prepared teachers, and Instagram stars, reminding me that yoga has become the #1 most injurious practice there is.

She would remind us yoga is humble, it’s about going in. She lived in Hawaii, she said she could have taken plenty of pictures doing yoga on the beach, but that’s not a true representation of life. If you post, do something inspiring, like a good book you read. You don’t necessarily have to learn yoga from the flashy popular teachers, sometimes the person who practices so sincerely is the one to learn from, you’ll know, you can feel they care.

I miss her with my whole being, I was very much looking forward to assisting her again in Santa Monica this December.

—Dawn Stillo, teaching assistant

Sarah Ezrin

Sarah Ezrin is the author of The Yoga of Parenting: Ten Yoga-Based Practices to Help You Stay Grounded, Connect with Your Kids, and Be Kind to Yourself. She is a freelance writer, yoga educator, and content creator based in the Bay Area. Her willingness to be unabashedly honest and vulnerable along with her innate wisdom, make her writing, teaching, and social media great sources of healing and connection for many people.
Sarah brings a wide spectrum of life experiences into everything she does. She is unafraid of sharing all sides of herself. She does so in the hope of giving others permission to be their most authentic self. At this time, when honest self-awareness is so important, Sarah’s is an essential and exemplary voice.
Sarah writes extensively on the subjects of yoga, parenting, and mental health, often interweaving these themes. Her work ranges from heavily-reported assignments to personal essays to blog content for brands. She is a regular contributor for Yoga Journal Magazine, Motherly, Yoga International, Healthline, Scary Mommy, Mind Body Green, Mantra Magazine, and LA Yoga Magazine. She has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes Magazine, Bustle, LA Weekly, and NBC News.

Sarah is a well-respected yoga teacher and a leader in the wellness community. A world traveler since birth, she has led trainings, workshops, and retreats locally and across the globe.

www.sarahezrinyoga.com

The post Teachers Honor Maty Ezraty, YogaWorks CoFounder appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Sarah Ezrin photographed by Emilie Bers

How to develop a healthy relationship with our self-care practices

Hi, my name is Sarah…and I am an addict. What kind of addict, you may ask? You name it. Honestly, I am no longer sure I am simply addicted to one thing. When I consider addiction, it’s not so much the substance or the behavior, but the relationship that has become obsessive, compulsive, out of control, self-destructive, seeping into every activity. There is a proclivity toward the “more.” More alcohol, more food, more work, more yoga, and sometimes even seeking more health. Yet it is not healthy. It’s a dynamic in which nothing is ever enough. I keep consuming, trying to fill a never-ending, hungry ghost-like void.

By the time I found myself on a yoga mat, I had already been battling the demons of drug addiction, alcohol abuse, eating disorders, and workaholism. So, it was no coincidence that I took to the pursuit of yoga and healing as fiercely as I did. I would obsess about it, like I had my next score. I would jones for it, like I would my next fix. And I would overdo it, like I had no limit.

The difference (and danger) between being addicted to yoga and wellness, compared to an addiction to illicit drugs, is that yoga and wellness are societally considered “healthy.” It may seem questionable to make the claim that a person can abuse something that is actually good for you. I can tell you first-hand that anything and everything can be overdone, including self-care.

Sarah Ezrin Photographed by Samuel Henderson

Is everything we do in the name of wellness automatically healthy?

Whatever we do in the name of wellness is automatically assumed to be beneficial. Because it seems as though our intention is to become healthier. Yet, when we begin to deny our innate desires such as sleep, nourishment, and relationships in our pursuit, the compulsive preoccupation with self-care can actually become violent. I was powerless over my own obsessive pursuit of wellness. I am pretty sure that forcing myself to wake up every day at 5 am, restricting eating meat and good fats to the point of starvation, exercising two +  times a day, and only using organic everything products to the point of crazy-making, would have qualified me for the first step of any addiction program. At a certain point, self-care took over my entire life and there was no room left for living.

There is a fine line between discipline and obsession, compulsion, and addiction. The quest for health can cross over to the dark side to become, ironically, unhealthy when it takes over one’s entire life. When we find ourselves tied into knots and stressed out all in the name of “feeling better.” I have lost count of the number of friend and family gatherings I turned down so I could wake up early to work out. Or the dinners I ditched, so I was not faced with tempting menu items. I would be riddled with guilt for the entire day if I was only able to get one work-out in.

When discipline goes too far

Unfortunately, this struggle is becoming more common. Many on the self-care path have crossed over from discipline to addiction. What were supposed to be acts of personal kindness instead become rigorous schedules that we militantly follow, dare we be left alone with our discontent. It is easy to hide behind the idea that everything we do is in the name of “health.”

For example, orthorexia nervosa is a proposed eating disorder defined in 1997. Outwardly, orthorexia can look like smart eating and regular cleansing. But upon closer examination people are actually obsessed with health food to the point it consumes their life and leads to an unhealthy and overly restricted lifestyle. You can drink too much orange juice, just as you can drink too much wine. A 2018 article in the Harvard Business Review was aptly titled “How Self-Care Became So Much Work.” People are starting to recognize that in true Super-Size Me American form, we have taken wellness and overdone it.

I knew I had gone too far when my life became so small that I had cut off everyone and everything I loved. I would not dare risk my morning workouts to meet new people or see those I love. How would I ever have time to meet a partner and have a family if I only dated between the hours of 11am to 12pm on Tuesdays through Thursdays? I was exhausted, stressed out, and lonely. And what was it all for? To lose an extra five pounds? It was time to make a change and put my practice into practice.

Sarah Ezrin photographed by Emilie Bers

The shift to putting practice into practice for self-care

I learned that a return to balance is possible. I learned that balance had a different look than what I had imagined self-care to be.

In order to make the shift from obsession to balance, first, let us recognize the “why” behind our behaviors. What is our purpose? What are we trying to achieve? To avoid? Through those answers, we can then redefine what it means to be healthy. Because healthy does not necessarily mean six-pack abs or perfect skin. Health can simply mean spending time with the ones you love.

The following are five reasons we become addicted to self-care with suggestions for returning ourselves to balance.

We are looking for happiness.

Finding happiness can be one of the biggest motivators for most of us when trying to become healthier. We want to feel good. We associate a notion of what health should feel like with happiness. The problem with this is that happiness is not a permanent state of existence. Happiness is just one of several emotions that we as humans have the gift of cycling through on any given day.

In fact, modern happiness researchers like Dr. Russ Harris, author of The Happiness Trap, are discovering that the more we seek to become happy, the less happy we become. Instead of trying to avoid pain and seek joy, let us learn to embrace all of our emotions. To feel all the feels.

Sometimes we equate self-care with chasing happiness, but self-care is not just doing things that make us happy. Self-care is supporting all aspects of our self. That includes sitting in our sadness and honoring our anger. When we can stop running away from our emotions, we discover a peaceful place that runs even deeper than happiness: acceptance.

We believe that if we look better, we will feel better.

We assume that if our bodies looked better then we will automatically find ease. We think that this ease magically happens if our skin were tighter, our hair thicker, if we wear the right mala beads, and smell like the perfect blend of essential oils. Unfortunately, in this whack-a-mole existence of constant maintenance and upkeep, many of us end up creating more dis-ease.

Self-care is so much bigger than physical wellness. The physical aspects of our selves are constantly changing, yet so many of us spend our entire lives trying to hang onto youth, physique, and looks. This is not to say we should stop exercising and live off chocolate cake (Sorry!), but instead of being motivated by our appearance, let us be motivated by how we feel.

Let us exercise not to lose five pounds, but to celebrate our body’s abilities. Let us use skin products not to hide wrinkles, but to nourish this amazing organ that holds our body together. We are constantly searching for cures outside our selves, but healing comes from within.

We are trying to control life by controlling our bodies.

The world is a chaotic place. It is normal to feel swept around by the tides of life and to try to cling onto the things that we feel we can control. Some of the things we try to control include what we put in our bodies and what we do with our bodies.

Control is at the root of many eating disorders. What appears to be an obsession with thinness is really just an act of extreme control. While there is no cure-all for the changing nature of the world, we can find an anchoring deep within us to help us weather the storm. This includes making choices that help root and ground us, like learning to set limits and healthy boundaries.

The times when I feel the most out of control are when I am spread too thin or when I am overextended. On those days, rather than latching onto compulsive exercise to feel in control, I find it helpful to spend some time in nature and become quiet. Some other wise choices are sleeping in when I am exhausted, enjoying a good meal with my partner, and maybe even savoring that piece of cake.

We think more is better, when less is more.

We know the adages. Keep it simple. Quality over quantity. Slow and steady wins the race. However, applying them to daily living is the real practice.

We live in a consumerist culture. Every advertisement popping up on our screens or looming over our streets is trying to tell us that we need to do more, be more. In a natural response, we tend to overdo everything. We overeat, we overbuy, we over-work out. We are trying to fill whatever hole is inside of us, but it is something that will never be satisfied.

This is because we are already enough. Yes, we are ever-evolving, works-in-progress, but we are also perfect in every phase of this progress. Just as a seed is perfect within its shell, it is still perfect as a sapling, and perfect again as it grows to becomes a tree. If we took half the time and energy we spend on doing more, to be more and put it into accepting ourselves fully in the moment, perhaps we could find the inner peace we seek.

We over-emphasize the “self” in self-care.

Let us try not to allow the “self” part of the term self-care become too inflated. Self-care is a much more meaningful practice than personal fitness. In fact, one of the most healing things we can do is to be of service to others. This is why recovery and 12-step groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous include being of service as part of the program.

In addition, there is a movement (which I do support) emphasizing that “self-care” is not selfish. But, what kind of self-care are we referring to? For example, boundary-setting and quiet time are both important to personal well-being. However, if self-care takes over our lives and disconnects us from those we love, is that either helpful or caring? Now is the time to broaden self-care so it includes spending time with those whom we love the most as well as taking time to give back to our communities.

Sarah Ezrin

Sarah Ezrin is the author of The Yoga of Parenting: Ten Yoga-Based Practices to Help You Stay Grounded, Connect with Your Kids, and Be Kind to Yourself. She is a freelance writer, yoga educator, and content creator based in the Bay Area. Her willingness to be unabashedly honest and vulnerable along with her innate wisdom, make her writing, teaching, and social media great sources of healing and connection for many people.
Sarah brings a wide spectrum of life experiences into everything she does. She is unafraid of sharing all sides of herself. She does so in the hope of giving others permission to be their most authentic self. At this time, when honest self-awareness is so important, Sarah’s is an essential and exemplary voice.
Sarah writes extensively on the subjects of yoga, parenting, and mental health, often interweaving these themes. Her work ranges from heavily-reported assignments to personal essays to blog content for brands. She is a regular contributor for Yoga Journal Magazine, Motherly, Yoga International, Healthline, Scary Mommy, Mind Body Green, Mantra Magazine, and LA Yoga Magazine. She has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes Magazine, Bustle, LA Weekly, and NBC News.

Sarah is a well-respected yoga teacher and a leader in the wellness community. A world traveler since birth, she has led trainings, workshops, and retreats locally and across the globe.

www.sarahezrinyoga.com

The post Keep the Care in Self-Care appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Maty Ezraty photographed by James Wvinner

Maty Ezraty: Honoring a Teacher and Leader

How do you sum up a life? How do you put into words the amount of love so many felt for one woman? How do you convey the luminosity of a light that shone so brightly it radiated across the entire globe? Maty Ezraty was more than just a yoga teacher, she was our yoga mama. She helped birth the modern yoga scene as we know it and we are all better for it.

At the age of nineteen, Maty took her very first yoga class. She was studying ballet and had heard fellow ballerinas talking about it in the locker rooms. At the time, yoga was still a counterculture phenom, but she felt a calling. Maty found her way to Center for Yoga in Larchmont Village (now a YogaWorks). She enjoyed her first class, but it was the one she took the very next day that set her on a path that would touch so many.

On a Friday night, she took master teacher Chad Hamrin’s class. In her own words Maty said, “When I took (my first class) I knew I liked yoga, but when I took Chad Hamrin’s I knew I loved yoga.” After class, the studio announced they were hiring people to fill work-study positions. They needed someone to staff the front desk in exchange for yoga. She got the job.

Soon after attending these classes, Maty began teaching, in 1985, and was quickly promoted to director of Center for Yoga. This was also the year where she met one of her primary teachers and significant influences, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, the codifier of the Ashtanga Yoga system. According to Maty’s bio, she was “one of a handful of women to complete some of the advanced sequences.” Other pivotal teachers in her early days were Dona Holleman and Gabriella Giubilaro. Later in life, Maty studied regularly at the Iyengar Institute in Pune with B.K.S. Iyengar’s daughter, Geeta.

Only two years after she began teaching, senior teacher Alan Finger presented Maty with the opportunity of a lifetime: To partner with him in opening a yoga studio in Santa Monica. YogaWorks opened its doors in 1987. It was a single room in what is still the Montana Avenue location. She was 22 1/2 years old.

Maty’s vision for YogaWorks was unlike any other yoga studio at the time. Maty always preferred to go her own way. She wanted to create a place that offered a variety of classes and levels. Maty was the backbone of the studio, running the schedule and managing the teachers. Just before YogaWorks opened its doors, Maty met her long-time partner Chuck Miller. In a few short years after opening, Maty bought out her other business partners and became sole owner, running the studio with Chuck for 17 years.

In the nearly two decades that Maty ran YogaWorks, many of the world’s most renowned teachers graced the mat spaces, including Annie Carpenter (founder of SmartFLOW yoga), Shiva Rea, Seane Corn (co-founder of Off the Mat and Into the World), Bryan Kest (founder of Power Yoga), and other noted teachers including Vinnie Marino and Kathryn Budig. The long list of names continues. Many of these teachers have gone on to found their own schools and styles of yoga, which is evidence of Maty’s influence on the modern yoga scene. One would be hard-pressed to find a teacher who has not studied with Maty or one of her proteges.

In 1992, Maty had another vision and joined forces with incredible Iyengar teacher Lisa Walford to develop the YogaWorks Teacher Training. Maty envisioned an approach to yoga that combined an Ashtanga-influenced style of vinyasa with the precise alignment cues of the Iyengar tradition. The YogaWorks method was born. Although the trainings have transformed over the years, Maty’s influence is still strongly felt. The YogaWorks teacher training is now taught in over 20 countries and boasts more than 15,000 alumni, all of whom are descendants of Maty, no matter how indirect.

In 2004, Maty sold Yogaworks. She then took her approach to practice on the road with teacher trainings, workshops, and occasional retreats. Maty was known for her effervescent energy, one-of-a-kind idioms, and silly jokes. She regularly garnered laughs, calling the occiput (the back of the skull) an octopus or yelling “Molto! Molto!” as she lovingly coaxed a student past their edge.

Maty was a strong believer in the importance of continued study. In recent years, she became interested in Vipassana meditation and the teachings of Insight Meditation society and Spirit Rock. In her trainings, Maty would often teach the same pose numerous times allowing students the opportunity to learn something new every time. And personally, the deepest savasanas I have experienced were in Maty’s classes.

Since leaving YogaWorks, Maty was vocal sharing her thoughts about the yoga world and its future. But, she always remained positive. In a conversation we had in 2014, Maty said, “I look at the yoga world and I wonder where it’s going. There seems to be so much emphasis on asana, but I think things are coming back. I’m feeling a wave…I’m feeling a return to something different. The community is getting older and things are changing. And I’m hopeful.“

Maty emphasized that the key to this positive change begins with the teachers. Her message to new and seasoned teachers alike is this, “Yoga is not a career path; it is a lifestyle. You have to live it.” This means continuing to be curious and always being students. Of course, learning will not be as much fun with our beloved teacher gone.

Maty passed away peacefully in her sleep on July 9, 2019 in one of the cities she loved most – Tokyo, Japan- doing what she loved most – teaching.

Maty, we will miss you, but you will always be with us on our mats and in our hearts.

Sarah Ezrin

Sarah Ezrin is the author of The Yoga of Parenting: Ten Yoga-Based Practices to Help You Stay Grounded, Connect with Your Kids, and Be Kind to Yourself. She is a freelance writer, yoga educator, and content creator based in the Bay Area. Her willingness to be unabashedly honest and vulnerable along with her innate wisdom, make her writing, teaching, and social media great sources of healing and connection for many people.
Sarah brings a wide spectrum of life experiences into everything she does. She is unafraid of sharing all sides of herself. She does so in the hope of giving others permission to be their most authentic self. At this time, when honest self-awareness is so important, Sarah’s is an essential and exemplary voice.
Sarah writes extensively on the subjects of yoga, parenting, and mental health, often interweaving these themes. Her work ranges from heavily-reported assignments to personal essays to blog content for brands. She is a regular contributor for Yoga Journal Magazine, Motherly, Yoga International, Healthline, Scary Mommy, Mind Body Green, Mantra Magazine, and LA Yoga Magazine. She has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes Magazine, Bustle, LA Weekly, and NBC News.

Sarah is a well-respected yoga teacher and a leader in the wellness community. A world traveler since birth, she has led trainings, workshops, and retreats locally and across the globe.

www.sarahezrinyoga.com

The post Tribute to Maty Ezraty and her Legacy in Modern Yoga appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

There are a lot of new poses out there on Instagram, like this pose, which some call “Pistol Squat Compass Pose,” or “Eka Pada Parvritta Utkatasana Surya Yantrasana.” Many yogis used to put these shocking shapes as “after” pictures, but for other seasoned practitioners, these types of shapes have become the “before.” Photo of Sarah Ezrin by Emilie Bers. Clothing by Athleta

It is Time for Teachings to Change

In the past two years alone, I personally know of eight instructors who have had injuries requiring surgical intervention. One of those was me.

Others are discovering that what was appropriate in our 20s, does not necessarily make sense in our mid-30s, 40s, or 60s. Teachers are learning firsthand the dangers of going beyond the body’s limitations.

First and foremost, teachers are students. Just as practitioners grow on their mat, teachers must continue to grow on theirs. To be willing to evolve. As our bodies change, it is also time for our teachings to change.

With this in mind, I’m observing a powerful shift happening in our yoga community. A shift that recognizes that safe is the new flexible.

Shifting from Instagram Bait to Self-Inquiry

This is a shift in which seasoned yoga teachers are forgoing the “more is more” approach so many took when they first started teaching in exchange for classes that promote prudence and inquiry. Yogis are setting aside flexibility-laden postures of shock and awe in favor of shapes that promote stability and space. People are learning to honor their body as it is in the moment and as it changes with time.

While poses that emphasize strength and steadiness may not always create astonishingly beautiful photographs like the twisting of one’s body into some advanced shape (see Instagram), they will keep yogis safe and practicing for a lifetime. It is better to work smarter not harder.

As teachers, we must both remember and remind students that the first tenet of yoga is ahimsa, to do no harm. It is easy to lose sight of this tenet if the practice becomes pose-centric.

In 2012, New York Times writer William J. Broad published a controversial piece entitled “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body.” It infuriated a lot of people in the yoga community because it seemed to be bashing the very thing that saved our lives. I know, because I was one of those people. Many have come to yoga (or are sent to yoga) to heal, either from physical or psychological pain. Yoga was my refuge from a high-stress job and from caring for a dying mother.

In a live interview I did for NBC News, I scoffed at the reporter questioning if yoga was unsafe. And while I stand by my statement that it is ultimately our ego which can “wreck our body” (as in people pushing themselves in a pose), what my nascent teaching self did not yet understand is that it is more than just a matter of people overdoing things.

Not all poses are suitable for all bodies!

I was not able to fully grasp this idea yet, because I myself was still toiling away at asanas I had no business doing. Like taking (er, shoving) my leg behind my head, ignoring my low back and front hip screaming with every attempt. How are teachers supposed to encourage students to make wise choices, when we are not doing that in our own personal practice?

My father would often joke that “the shoemaker’s children have no shoes,” when it came to my early teaching years. I would preach stillness but run around the city to make ends meet. I would talk nonviolence, then force my body through a grueling practice even on days when I needed rest. And I would encourage non-attachment, and then covet poses that looked fancy on the outside but caused me pain on the inside.

Fortunately, it is through our own experiences that we become the best guides! Not so fortunately, as with any growth, the path to get there may be uncomfortable or quick.

Teachers on Adjusting Practices to Cultivate Safety over Just Being Flexible

I had the privilege of speaking with various yoga teachers about the evolution of their practice, and ultimately their teachings.

Nicole Sciacca, Chief Yoga Officer at Playlist Yoga in Los Angeles, explains that her “first yoga class was nothing short of gymnastics and Cirque du Soleil style arm balances.” Like many, Sciacca came to yoga seeking healing. However, as a dancer with an “already flexible body,” she found herself looking to the bendy people at the front of the room for guidance, versus listening within. This worked for a time and while Sciacca credits yoga with healing her back (she had three ruptured discs), she also suspects that yoga led to other injuries, including two frozen shoulders.

Sciacca continues, “I think the past 10-12 years of personal practice have been a giant lesson in pulling back, squashing my ego, and asking better questions.”

SmartFLOW teacher trainer Tiffany Russo also practices “from a place of inquiry.” Explaining the evolution of her practice from one where she was more interested in “the end result of an asana” to now being more “curious about the experience within the journey.” Russo describes her current yoga practice as an ever-evolving continuum between ease and stability. “It’s always a sweet moment when I arrive on my mat to observe how much more ease of effort I might need, or on other days, how much more stability my body needs.”

Bay Area teacher and teacher trainer Laura Burkhart of Laura Burkhart Yoga, is no stranger to “advanced party poses,” as she calls them. Burkhart tore the labrums (cartilage lining the hip socket) in both hips, including suffering numerous other muscle tears and chronic tendonitis. She attributes the causes to “over-stretching and pushing too far.” Still recovering from her injuries Laura says that her “practice is much more simple than it use to be.” She says, “It is mostly low to floor poses, very few to no standing poses, no hip openers, no deep hamstring openers or poses where there is deep hip flexion.”

Matt Champoux, Director of San Francisco Ashtanga School (SFAYS) and Alignment-Vinyasa Teacher at Yoga Tree, had shoulder surgery just last month for “a chronically unstable shoulder with torn labrum.” While he suspects that the original injury happened in high school and then was later exacerbated on a rock-climbing wall, Matt also believes that “injuries from yoga are part of the process of a deepening inquiry into the relationships of awakening spiritually, range of motion exploration, and the psycho-emotional threads woven therein.” He says that his teaching has changed “tremendously” over the past 13 years as he becomes “increasingly enamored with subtly and less driven by more radical, contortionist pursuits.”

This high lunge variation on a block may not look so fancy on the outside but its emphasis on strength and length make it an excellent go to in lieu of more flexibility-heavy shapes. Photo of Sarah Ezrin by Emilie Bers. Clothing by Athleta. Mat by Manduka

Growth Opportunities in a Changing Body

Injuries and physical changes are opportunities for growth. They ask us to get quiet and move more carefully. A changing body is also an invitation to try things another way. For many teachers, this has meant not only restructuring their current practice, but also integrating different modalities to support their asana. Just as athletes are encouraged to go to yoga to improve their flexibility, yogis can improve cardiovascular health and strength by including other forms of physical fitness.

Matt Champoux agrees that “cross-training is supremely important for the physical wellbeing of a yoga student” and that “no one practice can include everything!” He continues to climb and run.

While there is some research that confirms that Sun Salutations do improve heart health, yoga is nowhere near as effective for raising our heart rate as cardiovascular-specific activities such as running, cycling, or swimming. I now incorporate cardio by going to Soul Cycle spinning classes, and it has greatly improved my breath on the mat.

Tiffany Russo is a yogi first, but she is also an athlete. Having run cross country and track in high school, Russo continues to run, box, and do circuit training for cardiovascular endurance. Russo also credits these activities as helping with the “quality of the control of (her) breath during times of high stress.”

Laura Burkhart swims and walks, however even walking can become too much for her hip injury. Burkhart also lifts weights a couple of times a week and believes that strengthening is crucial for preventing injury.

Nicole Sciacca is studying Functional Range Conditioning (FRC), a system of training which applies scientific methods to the acquisition and maintenance of functional mobility, articular joint health, resilience, and longevity. “In other words,” she explains, “Do you have the prerequisite range of motion to do the poses/movements you’re being asked to do?” Sciacca says that since studying FRC she frequently leaves out some of the poses many of us are used to seeing in power vinyasa practices, such as chaturanga, upward facing dog, and warrior 1.

Restructuring our Practice Beyond Flexibility

Sciacca gives another example, saying that yoga binds (clasping hands behind the body around another body part, usually a thigh or bent leg) are not a healthy way to go past your end range. “They compromise the joints and eventually breed more dysfunction.” She encourages yogis to consider “for what purpose and cost?” Sciacca appreciates all of the current discussions around reconstructing our concept of asana.

Alexandria Crow, founder of the Yoga Physics school is on a mission to “deconstruct and rebuild current system from the inside out.” A proponent of the viewpoint that yoga poses are manmade constructs, Crow focuses on teaching people how to deconstruct postures, helping students identify the parts that support a person’s body/ability and teaching them how to let go of the parts that do not.

Alexandria Crow warns that many poses as they are today exploit hyper-mobility and that trying to “stabilizing the current paradigm of shapes may make the postures even more dangerous.” Crow emphasizes separating “the quality of the experience” of the pose from the shape. Alex sees people’s self-worth getting tied up in their ability to do postures and she challenges practitioners and teachers alike to look at, “who they are without the poses.”

I, too, have had to set aside certain postures due to injuries, aging, anatomy, and life. Like Sciacca, I no longer hold deep binds. As an former Ashtanga practitioner, my practice was once riddled with binds, but since my shoulder reconstruction, whenever I practice them for more than a few breaths I feel pain. I also now lift weights daily. Hyper-mobile bodies tend to sit in their joints versus muscularly engaging.

Finding Solutions for Safe Practice

Adrian M. Carvalho, MPT and owner of Golden Gate Physical Therapy in San Francisco, regularly encourages yogis to weight train to help with stabilization. He also advises against “prolonged stretching at end ranges” for risk of over-loading the joints.
As every teacher goes through their own personal experience, their teachings evolve uniquely.

For Russo, her practice and teaching are “about finding integrity and stability.” She advises her students “to become more aware of how and why they move, rather than leading up to a pose.”

Matt Champoux’s teaching has always had a strong emphasis on alignment, however since his surgery, he plans to simplify his sequences even more and avoid demonstration.

Laura Burkhart now makes safety a priority in her classes, by sequencing “in a way that minimizes repetitive stress wear and tear and over stretching.” She also includes “more alignment and verbal cues that have been updated to help make certain postures safer for the body.”

Nicole Sciacca is currently looking “to blend the science of FRC with the conceptual practice of western yoga asana.” She is studying the movement modality of Kinstretch, which is the FRS (Functional Range Systems) solution to optimizing a group class scenario. Sciacca notes, “Although there remains a strong push for assessing people individually, FRS recognizes the fitness industry needs a group class format.”

Practice as a Lesson in Self-Compassion

The way we practice yoga in the West as public group classes is still an incredibly young approach to the discipline. We are told that yoga was traditionally taught one-on-one, under the astute eye of one teacher who tailored the practice for the student’s specific needs. Teaching large classes is a newer concept.

It is challenging to keep everyone safe when there are that many different bodies/genetics/anatomies/needs/energies in the room. Alexandria Crow also points out that in group classes there is great “pressure for people to keep up with the pack.”

While it is ultimately the student’s responsibility to make wise choices, it is a teacher’s duty to provide a road map of safe alternatives. Furthermore, instructors must also emphasize the importance of taking those smarter pathways. Paying careful attention to not make students feel like they are missing out or being sent to “detention,” because some manmade idealized shape does not suit their anatomy.

Beyond teaching alternative poses, teachers who have been through their own injury and/or physical transformations can guide people how to take care of themselves. The practice is becoming a lesson in self-compassion versus how to do asana.

Tiffany Russo puts it beautifully, “I hope to offer up students a greater awareness of how they are in relationship with themselves and others.” The kinder we learn to be with ourselves, the kinder we are in the world.

If we look at Patanjali’s translation of yoga from The Yoga Sutras, yoga is explained as the stilling of the movements of the mind. If we are hurting, lying to, or suffocating ourselves (challenging our breath) for the sake of a shape, is the mind really still?

Instead of defining our practices (bodies, jobs, relationships, lives) by what they look like on the outside, let us instead seek how we want to feel on the inside. Safe. Loved. And ever-evolving.

Sarah Ezrin

Sarah Ezrin is the author of The Yoga of Parenting: Ten Yoga-Based Practices to Help You Stay Grounded, Connect with Your Kids, and Be Kind to Yourself. She is a freelance writer, yoga educator, and content creator based in the Bay Area. Her willingness to be unabashedly honest and vulnerable along with her innate wisdom, make her writing, teaching, and social media great sources of healing and connection for many people.
Sarah brings a wide spectrum of life experiences into everything she does. She is unafraid of sharing all sides of herself. She does so in the hope of giving others permission to be their most authentic self. At this time, when honest self-awareness is so important, Sarah’s is an essential and exemplary voice.
Sarah writes extensively on the subjects of yoga, parenting, and mental health, often interweaving these themes. Her work ranges from heavily-reported assignments to personal essays to blog content for brands. She is a regular contributor for Yoga Journal Magazine, Motherly, Yoga International, Healthline, Scary Mommy, Mind Body Green, Mantra Magazine, and LA Yoga Magazine. She has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes Magazine, Bustle, LA Weekly, and NBC News.

Sarah is a well-respected yoga teacher and a leader in the wellness community. A world traveler since birth, she has led trainings, workshops, and retreats locally and across the globe.

www.sarahezrinyoga.com

The post Safe is the New Flexible appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Sarah Ezrin and Hands-On Adjustments with Students. Photo by Scott Mitchell

Fine-tuning hands-on adjustments

I participated in injuring a student once. There was no pop. There was no scream. In fact, in the moment, there was nothing that told me I had done anything wrong, including the student. I remember her body moving easily as I brought her hands to grab her feet in bound padmasana (lotus). I remember us smiling and talking through the entire adjustment. Yet, something did not feel right for her afterwards and for that I take responsibility. A student was hurt by my adjustment, but I still believe in using hands-on adjustments.

I also have been injured in adjustments. Yes, plural. I did not speak up when someone pushed my thighs down too hard in baddha konasana (cobbler’s pose) or when I felt a pop in my spine during an assisted drop back into urdhva dhanurasana (upward facing bow) or when someone tried to spread my pelvis apart in trikonasana (triangle pose). In fact, in some of those instances, the pain felt good. I thought it was required to “go deeper,” to take my posture to “the next level.” I was hurt by an adjustment, but I still believe in using hands-on adjustments.

Yoga, Injuries, and Hands-On Adjustments

There is a lot of discussion these days around yoga and injury. As more people are practicing, reports of strains and pains thought to be linked to yoga are also increasing. A 2016 study conducted by Yoga Journal and Yoga Alliance reported that the number of people practicing yoga in the US has increased by 50% just since 2012. According to this study, 36 million people are now doing yoga. Those are a lot of moving bodies, and as with any physical activity, a lot of opportunities for injury.

While it is strangely ironic to think that a practice meant to heal may cause harm, injuries in yoga can occur in myriad ways. Some are due to repetitive stress, meaning a pose (or series of poses) repeated over and over puts strain on the joints or muscles. This is either because the practitioner loses attention to alignment due to fatigue from repetition (think vinyasa after vinyasa) or because the posture was misaligned in the first place. Keep driving your car with crooked alignment and a tire will eventually burst!

Some injuries are related to poor warm-up. This is a common cause of injury among yoga teachers, who will often demonstrate an advanced posture cold, only to hear the haunting sound of a pop. San Francisco-based yoga teacher Laura Burkhart recently shared her experience on YogaJournal.com. Demonstrating a complex pose led to a nearly two-year hip injury that she is still recuperating from. Finally, there are a great deal of injuries caused by forcing one’s body into a shape that is inappropriate. These can be self-inflicted, like pushing too hard in a pose, or sometimes this type of injury occurs through the teacher via a hands-on adjustment.

The Intimacy of Hands-On Adjustments

“Hands-on adjustments” do not always involve hands. In fact, many teachers adjust using their entire body. Some instructors will lie on top of a student in a forward fold or use their foot to ground a body part that is lifting, for example stepping on a person’s back outer foot in virabhadrasana 1 (warrior 1). Adjusting is a privilege. It involves coming into someone’s personal space and manipulating their energy by way of the body. It can be very intimate!

There is a common assist where the teacher will lower the student’s front rib cage. This means touching someone’s stomach, an area that some people do not even let their lovers touch. When we place our hands on another being, we need to be fully present. We need to feel that person’s breath as if it were our own. Helping someone find space and bringing breath to their body is a gift. A good adjustment can literally feel like you have brought someone to life.

With the onslaught of controversies coming to light these days around physical touch, both in the yoga world and our greater culture, some yoga teachers are learning to be trepidatious about putting their hands on students. The #metoo movement has given forum for sexual assault victims and yogis around the world to finally speak up about inappropriate adjustments and encounters.

Sarah Ezrin with Student. Photo by Scott Mitchell.

Adjusting our Adjustments

Gone are the days when we treated our teacher’s word (and adjustments) as authority. Instead, we are entering a new phase. A phase where people are saying something when things do not feel right. Where people are learning to say, “No, I do not want to be touched today,” and more importantly, where the student is the one who holds the power. It is an empowering thing to be able to say “No,” whether you are the receiver or the giver of an adjustment.

But what of those teachers who still believe in adjustments as teaching tools? How do we navigate these delicate waters of not knowing who to adjust and who not to? How much pressure is too much, and how do we know when and if we should take a student physically further?

I believe that some of the most informed and healing work I do as a teacher is by placing my hands on another. For the kinesthetic learner, a physical adjustment may be more easily understood than any verbal cue. It is precisely because adjustments are such powerful teaching tools that they should not be taken lightly. Instead of dismissing all adjustments as scary or dangerous, let us instead adjust our adjustments.

Here are 5 ways to keep your students and your own body safe when giving physical adjustments:

1. A little tap goes a long way.

In the early part of my teaching, I assisted in the Ashtanga room of a well-known Los Angeles studio. Strong adjustments were expected and encouraged. Ashtangis are daily practitioners and a strong adjustment is part of the culture. Yet, most students that come to public classes are coming in before, after, or even during a long day of work or taking care of their family. They practice one to four times a week, if they are lucky. This means tighter bodies and corresponding energy.

A strong adjustment may not be appropriate for someone who you see once a month or a couple of times a week. Instead, using a light tap to alert a part of the body that needs to wake up or lengthen can not only have a greater effect than yanking them into position, it educates the students how to engage, empowering them in their practice. Less is often more.

2. Just because the body is ready, does not mean the mind is ready.

I had a private client who was quite able-bodied. She was a novice to yoga when we met and progressed very rapidly in our sessions. Eager to learn more, she would bring me pictures of poses she hoped to work on. While she was quite flexible in her upper spine and shoulders, she would hold her breath and sweat profusely in deep backbends. She desperately wanted to do urdhva dhanurasana (upward facing bow).

One day after much preparation, she asked that I lift her into it. We had been leading up to it for months, so it was worth an attempt, although I would let her be in total control. I had her grab my ankles and braced my hands under her shoulders. She lifted her hips and then began pushing into my ankles.

Before I even had a moment to cue the next action, her breath shut off and her body went stiff like rigor mortis. I had her come down right away since I could see that her body was more than capable of doing the posture, but emotionally and energetically, she was not. I would not have served her by yanking her into the shape too soon. Instead, I let her rest and we decided to keep working on the preparatory poses, so she could find her breath before revisiting the advanced shape.

3. Like sex, good communication is everything.

“Is this OK?” can be a game-changing question when it comes to hands-on assists. I train teachers around the world and there is always one person in the trainings who is so eager to adjust that they jump right in and crank away before really looking and sensing the body before them. We must slow our entrance down as we enter the student’s energy field. This will give us a read.

I am often asked, “How do you know if someone does not want to be adjusted?” The answer is, “We ask.” Before you place your hands on the person, you ask, “Is this OK?” Once you have your hands on them, ask again, “Is this OK?” As you start to move them, ask again, “Is this OK?” And even upon exiting it is okay to ask, “Was that OK?” Communicating with your students is a great way to learn more about them and their needs, but it also teaches them to speak up and take control.

4. Just say no.

“No Touch” chips and placards are becoming more commonplace at studios. This is a private way for students to “voice” their request without having to literally say the words. Some teachers announce that they will be adjusting during class and in a posture where people’s eyes are closed or heads are down like balasana (child’s pose), they do a blind vote and ask students to raise their hand if they do not want to be touched. Just as the student can request not to be adjusted, we teachers can also say no to giving one.

Back to the Ashtanga room: there would be large men begging for me to push on them harder. Even using all my body weight and leveraging, I was not strong enough to give certain adjustments and the more I exerted, the more I put my own body at risk. The number one rule of adjustments is to protect your own body first! A sensation junky may ask for more and it is tempting to want to give in (many of us teach for a living because we are people-pleasers), but as yoga teachers our body and our health are priority. Never risk your body to adjust another!

5. Continue to evolve.

The physical practice of yoga is constantly transforming. Different schools have different beliefs and ways of doing things. Teachers shift how they teach with age. Continue to study anatomy and injury management, as it changes with time and science. We are nowhere near finished with learning after a 200-hour training. It is just the beginning.

Take trainings and workshops with teachers that you respect and look up to, but more importantly who continue to learn themselves. Read books. One of my favorites is the Anatomy Coloring Book. I have learned so much about the body by taking the time to color in muscles and bones. Many local colleges offer introductory Anatomy courses. Above all, never stop practicing. The most important adjustments are the ones we give ourselves when we take the time to find space for breath through alignment.

It is not our job to fix anyone.

I know, I know. We’re teachers. We’re there to teach people. And sometimes a pose looks so messy that we are moderately convinced a student may kill themselves; but even as teachers we are not there to “fix” anyone. We are guides. We are there to awaken a student’s innate knowledge. To help people realize that they don’t need fixing, because their innermost nature is perfect. We are there to remind students that the poses are merely tools to steady the mind. Of course, we need to protect our student’s bodies and re-align them if something is wildly unsafe, but if we go into the class with the idea that we’re there to fix people, that energy will be conveyed in our adjustments.

Instead, let your intention be to guide your students toward space and breath. Remember that every time we hands-on-assist it is an honor to place our hands on another human being. An adjustment can bring a student to life. Let our intention be to help a yogi find freedom. After all, is that not yoga?

Sarah Ezrin

Sarah Ezrin is the author of The Yoga of Parenting: Ten Yoga-Based Practices to Help You Stay Grounded, Connect with Your Kids, and Be Kind to Yourself. She is a freelance writer, yoga educator, and content creator based in the Bay Area. Her willingness to be unabashedly honest and vulnerable along with her innate wisdom, make her writing, teaching, and social media great sources of healing and connection for many people.
Sarah brings a wide spectrum of life experiences into everything she does. She is unafraid of sharing all sides of herself. She does so in the hope of giving others permission to be their most authentic self. At this time, when honest self-awareness is so important, Sarah’s is an essential and exemplary voice.
Sarah writes extensively on the subjects of yoga, parenting, and mental health, often interweaving these themes. Her work ranges from heavily-reported assignments to personal essays to blog content for brands. She is a regular contributor for Yoga Journal Magazine, Motherly, Yoga International, Healthline, Scary Mommy, Mind Body Green, Mantra Magazine, and LA Yoga Magazine. She has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes Magazine, Bustle, LA Weekly, and NBC News.

Sarah is a well-respected yoga teacher and a leader in the wellness community. A world traveler since birth, she has led trainings, workshops, and retreats locally and across the globe.

www.sarahezrinyoga.com

The post Teachers, It’s Time to Adjust Our Hands-On Adjustments appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

The call to prayer wafts through the window as a group of yogis half-slumber in savasana. The yoga space’s spectacular view reveals the juxtaposition that is Beirut. Crystalline skyscrapers, war-punctured buildings, and the Mediterranean’s famous deep-blue water abutted against the Lebanese mountains. These days, Lebanon is known less for its natural beauty and more for its location in the midst of ongoing strife. Even though this part of the world is notorious for conflicts over differences, yoga is serving to unite.

When the offer came to lead the first YogaWorks teacher training in Lebanon at Lulia Turk’s Breathe the Yoga Studio, I said yes. By their nature, teacher trainings are life-changing. But I knew this one would be particularly important. This training could influence more than the class through transforming the lives of its participants. Yoga teaches people to be in their bodies, to stand for themselves, and to stand in community.

It was only after sharing the news with family and friends when I began to experience people’s misconceptions about the Middle East. I also came to recognize some of my own. I have never had so many people wish for me to“be safe” on a trip. People shared their unease about my being a Jewish women and some suggested that I travel with my Canadian rather than US passport (I have dual citizenship). Friends asked if I would wear burka. I admit on my first trip, I tucked scarves and long sleeves into the suitcase just in case. Yet not once during my visit was I treated as less than or different.  

Yoga in Beirut, Lebanon

Lebanon is a small country bordered by Syria, Israel, and the Mediterranean along 140 miles of coastline. There is a palpable pulse to the capital coastal city of Beirut. It is a buzz of energy mixed with tension and resilience.  

Yoga teaches us to find inner harmony regardless of the discord around us. Yogis in Beirut are learning to stay calm despite the very real threat that unrest could erupt at any moment. One week before the training started, there was an explosion in a Beirut suburb. And halfway into my trip the US sent out an email warning Americans of increased risk of danger and advising us to return home. On the streets, everyday life continued. Life with seemingly more determination and appreciation. Talk about a lesson in presence.

The Effects of Daily Practice

At the beginning of the training, I observed some of the telltale signs of people who have experienced high stress and trauma. These included difficulty focusing and actually being in their bodies. Throughout the first week of practice, the students would squirm in poses unable to be still, eyes darting around the room. After a month of disciplined daily practice, the trainees transformed into focused and emboldened warriors.

During savasana in the final week, a large metal bar holding open the emergency door fell over with a “BANG!” We all jumped at the sound and realization that this could have been a bomb. When living in stressful circumstances the nervous systems becomes primed for danger. The students took a deep breath, readjusted their positions to feel safe (some opted to finish in seated meditation or laying on the belly), and continued resting. They demonstrated their new ability to relax and recover even in the midst of stress and uncertainty.

We Are All Yogis

I love to travel beyond the familiarity of daily life. It is easy to be blinded by dissimilarities and the misconception that we are different, right, or better leads to conflict. While Lebanon is open-minded in many ways, disagreements over views are rooted in the daily culture. In the yoga training, a group of diverse individuals became a kind of family, a communion of strangers seldom seen in this part of the globe. Despite deeply embedded patterns of discord, the Beirut training gathered people of different religions, politics, and upbringings for a common purpose. For eight hours every day they were not Lebanese, Syrian or Saudi, Muslim, Christian, or Druze. They were yogis.

Sarah Ezrin

Sarah Ezrin is the author of The Yoga of Parenting: Ten Yoga-Based Practices to Help You Stay Grounded, Connect with Your Kids, and Be Kind to Yourself. She is a freelance writer, yoga educator, and content creator based in the Bay Area. Her willingness to be unabashedly honest and vulnerable along with her innate wisdom, make her writing, teaching, and social media great sources of healing and connection for many people.
Sarah brings a wide spectrum of life experiences into everything she does. She is unafraid of sharing all sides of herself. She does so in the hope of giving others permission to be their most authentic self. At this time, when honest self-awareness is so important, Sarah’s is an essential and exemplary voice.
Sarah writes extensively on the subjects of yoga, parenting, and mental health, often interweaving these themes. Her work ranges from heavily-reported assignments to personal essays to blog content for brands. She is a regular contributor for Yoga Journal Magazine, Motherly, Yoga International, Healthline, Scary Mommy, Mind Body Green, Mantra Magazine, and LA Yoga Magazine. She has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes Magazine, Bustle, LA Weekly, and NBC News.

Sarah is a well-respected yoga teacher and a leader in the wellness community. A world traveler since birth, she has led trainings, workshops, and retreats locally and across the globe.

www.sarahezrinyoga.com

The post Beyond Bombs: Training Yoga Teachers in Beirut appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.