Posts In: nature

by Laura McCorry

How do yoga teachers feel about their practice? What inspires them to keep teaching and keep practicing yoga? Get to know your Yoga One teachers outside the studio and off the mat. This month’s interview is with Lauren Christie.

1. Why do you practice yoga?

I practice yoga to cultivate presence, to sense myself more clearly, and to shift my perspective. I practice so I can take what I learn out into the world. And I practice asana (the physical movements of yoga) so I can delight in having a moving, breathing body!

2. What was the most intimidating aspect of teaching when you first started?

Getting out of my head, and accepting that I won’t always get it right.

3. What gives you the most joy as a yoga instructor?

Seeing when things “click” for people. I like seeing people get excited about moving in a new way, and sensing that people are building self-confidence within the practice.

4. If yoga were a food, car, smell, planet, song, artist, flavor, etc… it would be: This is so hard! Yoga is so many things. For me right now, yoga would be like the flavor “umami.” It’s difficult to grasp and define, yet deeply satisfying when you experience it, and necessary for a well-rounded palate.

5. What’s your yoga inspiration?

My yoga inspiration is the world around me. I learn a lot from witnessing the qualities of trees, grass, sky, birds, ocean, etc. The people in my life inspire me too: my students, my fellow teachers, my partner, my family, my friends, the person in front of me in line at the grocery store…

6. What classes do you teach at Yoga One?

I teach Flow 1&2 on Thursdays at 7:30pm. 🙂

You can find our full class schedule here. Om!

by Laura McCorry

Lately I’ve found myself more drawn to silence, more drawn to sitting still and taking in the world as it presents itself. Life asking to be noticed in a small, quiet voice. It hasn’t paraded into my consciousness with fanfare and demanded attention. (There’s enough of that already, and we all know the strategy works, at least immediately.)

As Franz Kafka wrote, “You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet, still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.”

These are some of the moments that stopped me in my tracks, when my only response has been to sit very still observing, listening:

• My daughter already in pajamas stacking blocks as high as she can into a tower just before her bedtime. 
• The sound of my friend’s voice who tells me that in the middle of the night, she will ask her husband who recently died to go comfort their baby. 
• The late afternoon sunlight illuminating a hand-brocaded Indian elephant on a square tapestry, how I see for the first time the sparkling gold threads.
• The stark black and white text from a friend asking for prayers while she sits beside her husband in the ICU. 

SaveSave

Do you take your yoga with you when you travel? 

Our Yoga One family has spread to all corners of the globe and we’re excited to share some of their adventures.

Sometimes you don’t need to travel very far to get a different perspective. Be a tourist in your own town! Longtime Yoga One student Kay Faryan chilling on the Sunset Cliffs in San Diego, California.

No matter where you go, you can Keep OM Trucking with Yoga One! Visit Yoga One at 1150 7th Avenue to get your own hat and while you’re there, join us for class. 

Do you take your yoga with you when you travel? 

Our Yoga One family has spread to all corners of the globe and we’re excited to share some of their adventures.

Caitlin McPhee:

Anjanae and I, left and center, met during our YTT at Yoga One. This summer we went backpacking in Colorado together! While hiking, we reflected on the ease of practicing mindfulness while hiking and camping in nature (in the sense of our heightened ability to focus on the here and now) and how these activities perfectly compliment our yoga practice.

No matter where you go, you can Keep OM Trucking with Yoga One! Visit Yoga One at 1150 7th Avenue to get your own hat and while you’re there, join us for class. 

by Hannah Faulkner

How yoga cultivated a karmic awareness of life in all its forms and started my journey of veganism.

Read the full version of this post on Hannah’s blog, Half Moon Yoga and Art.

The other day a friend, Ashlee, told me that I must have been a cat in my previous life. She was trying to make sense of the phenomenon of why animals, and oftentimes cats, are so attracted to me. But, I haven’t always been this way. I used to be afraid of animals and tried to steer clear of them for most of my life.

It wasn’t until I started doing yoga (at Yoga One in San Diego), that I’ve made a connection with these beings. The more I became centered and found inner peace and awakening, the more animals liked to be in my aura.

One of my favorite animal experiences was when I was walking along the Camino de Santiago in 2014. JoAnna and I were both missing our pet cats from back home when suddenly, out of the brush, five little kittens approached us. We stopped and started petting and holding them. They just wanted to be loved. Our hearts were filled with so much joy to share this connection with the natural world.

We stayed there for about thirty minutes then JoAnna said, “We should probably stop wasting time and continue walking.” I abruptly snapped back, “This is NOT WASTING time!” We still tease each other about that statement, but the truth is that taking time to stop and connect with nature and our inner source of love is really the best way to spend our time and our lives.

Our crown chakra, Sahaswara, is our source of enlightenment, consciousness and spiritual connection to all that is. This connection takes the form of a circle, like a crown. Feeling enlightened with a balanced crown chakra means experiencing unity that everything is connected at a fundamental level. The other day, when I was meditating and bringing my concentration to this place of inner peace and connectedness, my cat walked over to me and pressed the crown of her head into the crown of my head. Moments like this are enthralling!

At the Living with Animals exhibit in the Museum of Man San Diego, we are reminded that all animals can be our friends. Pets used to be wild creatures that have developed a relationship with humanity over time. We have made friends with dogs, cats, birds, turtles, fish, mice, and even beetles.

However, sometimes the way we live causes separateness and we lose connection with creatures when we label a certain creature as a pest or a taco. Why is it that in the West we can develop laws to protect the treatment of dogs, but we are blind to the way cows, pigs and chickens are treated and manufactured in a factory? The Living with Animals exhibit takes a look at how a pet can become a pest, a pest can become a pet, and a pet can become a pest that ends up on our plate.

Up until six months ago, I have been guilty of disconnecting the animal with the flavor. Then, I became confronted with some yoga philosophy of Ahimsa (non-violence) and how it relates to karma. I finally opened my eyes and heart to the documentaries available on Netflix and other platforms that are trying to awaken us to how we are responsible for torturing animals every time that we buy meat or animal products.

I used to think that we “needed” to eat animals for protein and have since learned that we can find much more healthy nutrients and proteins in a plant based diet. Leo Tolstoy announces, “A man CAN live and be HEALTHY without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat, he partakes in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite, and to act so is immoral.”

Like an ex-smoker who still desires a swig of cigarette every time they smell one, my mouth still waters at the smell of crispy bacon and tasty hamburger, but then I close my eyes and visualize the whole creature and how it is being treated today, under horrible conditions, with the purpose of companies making more money, and I can no longer partake in this bad karma. Peaceful Mohandas Gandhi, past leader of India proclaimed, “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”

Join us for Yoga in the Rotunda at the Museum of Man San Diego and visit the Living with Animals Exhibit to awaken connectedness and inner peace.

I will be leading the class on Saturday, September 9th, 2017 from 8:30-9:30am in accordance with Yoga One San Diego.

We will be flowing through animal poses like Cat/Cow, Dog, Beetle, Mouse, Pigeon, Fish, Turtle, and more as we cultivate Crown Chakra Connectedness and Ahimsa for all creatures!

Hannah Faulkner
Guest Writer

Hannah Faulkner draws inspiration from her surroundings and seeks to find relationships between the ordinary and extraordinary daily life through her writing. With 4 years of experience as a flight attendant, and many more travels preceding, Hannah’s curiosity and adventurous spirit have soaked in elements from worldwide cultures while growing in her spirituality. As a yoga and visual arts teacher, she combines her passions to create beauty in a variety of ways through her inspiring stories, bridging connections with deeper yoga philosophy and wellness concepts at HalfMoonYogaandArt.com.

SaveSave

From the first time you meet Kathi Diamant (or see her on KPBS TV) her sparkling eyes alert you to her intelligence and vibrant energy. That energy further manifests in an apparent and tangible eternal youthfulness. As Franz Kafka stated, “Youth is happy because it has the ability to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.”

Come to her Qigong class on Wednesdays at 9am to try this wonderfully vibrant practice. Check out our full class schedule here.

1. Let’s start with the basics, what is Qigong?

Qigong translates as “energy” (qi or chi) and “work” (gong), but I prefer to think of it as “energy play.” It has been used for centuries as an integral part of Traditional Chinese Medicine, prescribed both for the prevention and cure of chronic illnesses. Comprised of flowing movements designed to balance both hemispheres of the brain, Qigong is exercise that works from the inside out.

It truly is a practice available for everyone, at any age. It can be practiced sitting or standing, and no prior experience is required. We learn three things in Qigong: balance, letting go, and feeling our own energy. Through Qigong, we learn to differentiate between the Yin and Yang energy flowing in the body, and to integrate mind and body in a moving meditation.

2. What first attracted you to Qigong when you began your practice?

I took a Qigong class through the YMCA and I loved the experience of relaxation and focus at the same time. It was a perfect complement to my yoga practice, but also a different sort of workout. In Qigong, there is no effort, no force, you build strength and balance through letting go.

My real practice began in January 2000 when I started lessons in Tai Chi with Henry Cheng, a Fifth Generation Master in Wu-Style Tai Chi Chu’an at the YMCA Mind-Body Center. Master Henry specializes in developing, cultivating and increasing one’s own energy. Qigong is the concept, or idea, behind Tai Chi which is known as a form of Qigong.

3. What is your favorite place or time of day to practice?

My favorite places are outside, especially near old trees, which intensify the feeling of energy. But my absolute favorite is on the beach, at sunset. Sunrise is good, too, but it happens far less often!

4. What’s the most challenging aspect for you?

Focusing my mind. While my body has gotten much stronger and healthier, focusing my mind on my breath and movement is the real trick. New studies have shown that thinking about what you intend to think about produces higher levels of happiness, satisfaction and peacefulness. So the mind aspect of this mind/body exercise is the most challenging.

5. If you were an animal, you would be: a dolphin, definitely.

6. Describe what Qi Gong means in your life using just 6 words: playing with energy keeps me healthy.

7. What might your students be surprised to learn about you?

I have written a biography entitled “Kafka’s Last Love” which has been translated and published in ten countries, and since 1998 I have been the director of the Kafka Project at SDSU, where I lead the international search for Franz Kafka’s literary treasure, stolen by the Gestapo in 1933.

8. Do you have any words of wisdom or advice for new students?

By practicing Qigong, you can improve your health, your happiness, and the quality of your longevity. Without effort, without force, and without any special equipment!

by Laura McCorry

“As for the complex ways of living, I love them not, however much I practice them. In as many places as possible, I will get my feet down to the earth.” – Henry David Thoreau

Minimalist living has been a guiding light of mine for many years but I don’t consider myself a minimalist. More like an aspiring minimalist – my goal is to shed excess consumerism and live in closer harmony with life’s basic necessities.

I recently came across the story of a man living in the wilds of Canada in my facebook newsfeed. It’s fascinating to think about a person completely renouncing civilization and thriving, not just surviving, in the wild. Like a true regression to primitive man and perhaps the ultimate conclusion if we were to follow the paleo diet adherents down the rabbit hole.

Is it good to get away? Definitely. Go on a retreat, take a walk barefoot in the park, practice yoga outside. For most of us, going off the grid permanently isn’t an option or even a goal. The more time I spend in communion with my yoga practice, the more I desire simplicity.

There was the first great plunge into a regular, established practice. I saw how much more I had to learn and often pushed myself to try the hardest variation offered by the instructor. Many poses that had eluded me suddenly became possible in my body and there was the rush of what some call “collecting poses.” It was exciting and great for parties and certainly has its own place for celebration.

Then there was a subtle shift. I still pursued those complicated poses – like mountaintops I aspired to climb their peaks but I also wanted to linger on the slopes. The grounding postures, the simplest poses you first learn in yoga – these became new and difficult in their own right. It was enough to hold warrior two and breathe, appreciating the challenge that presented itself not right away but with the joint forces of time and staying present.

If you’re ready to really explore your yoga practice: Simplify. Feel your feet (and hands) on the ground. Linger in the transitions. Go back to basics and see what changes.

Namaste!

Laura McCorry
Contributing Writer

Yoga and Laura had an on-again-off-again relationship from 2004 until 2009 when they decided to move in together and there’s been no looking back since. Passionate about both yoga and writing, Laura loves to introduce others to the joys and benefits of yoga and healthy living.

Contact: laura@yogaonesandiego.com

Did you know we now have not one, but two amazing classes held outdoors every week? For more information and to see our full schedule, go here.

10am Saturday poolside at the Sheraton on Harbor Island

9am Sunday at the Porto Vista Hotel rooftop in Little Italy

Yoga in all its varied forms and styles is so beneficial for overall wellness in body, mind and spirit. Practicing yoga outside with the sun on your face and the wind in your hair has some extra benefits you may not have considered:

• Remember how your mother always said fresh air and sunshine was good for you? Well she’s right: exposure to a limited amount of sunshine each day improves production of vitamin D (which helps ward off disease), elevates your mood and can even improve concentration. Just be sure to wear sunscreen for prolonged exposure like an hour-long yoga class!

• It’s way cooler to practice tree pose in front of an actual tree. We’ve seen you on vacation standing in front of a redwood in tree pose – it’s practically irresistible. Plus, science has found that trees emit vibrational frequencies that help decrease stress and improve creativity. Seriously! Om with me now, ooommmmmmmm

• While many people bring plants into their homes or offices to improve air quality, it’s important to completely immerse yourself in the natural world. Walk barefoot in the park, gaze out over the bay, listen to the sound of the ocean, join us for yoga this weekend! When we take the time to let all five senses enjoy the experience of being in nature, the entire body is rejuvenated.

by Sharyn Greenberg

Spring is a time of flowers, sunshine, love and picnics! After the long, dark, chilly winter days and nights, it’s nice to find ourselves finally emerging from hibernation. Even in San Diego, rain showers, cloudy days and the occasional hail storm kept us indoors. But spring is a time of rejuvenation when nature is reborn and the excitement of a warm breeze makes life seem a bit lighter.

As we set out to face the sun of this new season, the practice of Ayurveda can help put a spring in your step by bringing your body in balance with the rhythm of nature.

During winter and early spring, the elements of water and earth (kapha dosha) are dominant yet as the earth transitions into late spring there is an onset of fire (pitta). These elements are present in both our external and internal environments. An accumulation of too much kapha within a person may lead to sleepiness, depression, weight gain or phlegm – all of which may have been noticed in the winter. Now that spring is here, it’s time to reign in kapha so we can remain in step with nature, which is moving towards light and warmth.

1. Embrace routine to combat any lingering lethargy from winter. Ideally you should wake up with the sun, around 7am, and go for a brisk walk outside first thing. If you don’t have time for a walk, just pop outside to feel the air against your skin.
2. Lighten up your diet. There’s no more need to store up fat for the winter – it’s time to eat lighter, incorporating herbs and spices into your diet. Avoid heavy, oily foods. Enjoy bitter, pungent and astringent foods such as apples, asparagus, okra, leafy greens, beets, legumes and dark grapes.
3. Herbs are nature’s pharmacy. Triphala is good for detoxifying the body (take 1/2 teaspoon at night.) Ginger gets the digestive system going and warms the body; try drinking ginger tea 30 minutes before every meal. Turmeric dries mucus and aids allergy symptoms (mix 1/4 teaspoon with 1 teaspoon raw honey a few times per day).
4. Get moving! Yoga asana that soothes kapha include sun salutations to get the heart rate up, back bending to energize and spinal twists to detoxify. Daily yoga practice is encouraged but equally so are outdoor activities like hiking, jogging and bike riding.
5. Don’t Forget to Breathe. Kapalabhati is the recommended pranayam to do daily in the spring as it promotes detoxification, healthy digestion and a lighter state of mind. Go here for a tutorial.

Sloughing off the heaviness of winter is the main guide to health in the spring. The goal is not only to lighten up the physical body but also the mental and emotional bodies which are also affected by the seasons. Naps are not advisable during spring as they slow digestion and aggravate kapha. Try to stay up and enjoy the daytime. If you feel tired or restless, enjoy some restorative yoga!

That’s right, September is National Yoga Month, a time to celebrate a common love for yoga and healthy living and to share that passion with others! Here are some fun ways you can spread the yoga love:

First off, the most obvious of all, bring a friend to yoga! How many of you went to your first yoga class because a friend brought you along? Pay it forward by extending your own invitation. For all you ladies out there trying to convince your guy to come to class with you, check out this article for tips!

Change it up by taking your practice outdoors. There’s nothing like feeling the earth beneath your feet and the wind in your hair while you practice, not to mention having a live tree for your inspiration during tree pose! You can connect to your breath and find your connection to nature at the same time, maybe even get a little sun. Check out our rooftop class at the Porto Vista Hotel in Little Italy on Sunday mornings at 9am.

Three words: Treat Yo Self! Do you always borrow a mat when you come to class? Treat yourself to the gift of your very own mat; we’ve got hugger mugger and manduka mats for sale at the studio. Feeling down about wearing the same old workout clothes to class all the time? Treat yourself to some new digs. A vigorous vinyasa practice have you feeling sore? Treat yourself to a massage! We’ve got four amazing massage therapists at your service and a deliciously relaxing massage room.

Take your practice to the next level. Whatever level you’re at in your practice, there’s always another level to discover. Have you been taking beginner classes for awhile but still feel unsure about a mixed level class? Talk to the instructor before class and let them know your hesitations. They’ll be able to offer you modifications to meet your body’s needs. Do you have a regular practice but need a push in order to try out a level 2 class? Go for it! Listen to your body so you know when it’s okay to try something hard and when you need to rest. Check out Mara’s 6pm class on Thursday nights or Amy’s 6:45pm class on September 14 for a challenge! Full class schedule here.

Do yoga from the inside out this month by practicing gratitude. Journal about your yoga practice and write down how you feel before and after class. Give yourself a pat on the back for stepping on your mat one more time. Thank a co-worker or family member or yoga instructor for their guidance and understanding. Studies show that grateful people feel “more alert, alive, interested and enthusiastic.” Gratitude creates feelings of happiness and joy simply by changing our internal rhetoric, a very yogic thought indeed!

Other cool stuff to check out: Yoga One’s very own Amy Caldwell  is leading Lululemon’s Vino & Vinyasa every Wednesday night at the Solamar Hotel, 6:30pm. Class is complimentary. Click here to see Amy’s interview for Vino & Vinyasa on KUSI news and click here to see her interview for San Diego Living!