When I was a yoga teacher I often thought that I didn’t have the depth of experience to teach yoga, so I focused my energy on teaching asana. Movement. I had been a dancer all my life and felt extremely confident in teaching creative sequencing, warming up and cooling down the body. I hoped that through just being a guide in an asana practice I would bring people closer to themselves.

But now that I have taken a “day” job—teaching yoga wasn’t cutting it as a single mom—lately I have been asking my self if I’ve sold out my values that I have worked so hard to uncover and commit to. I think we live in a culture that asks us to compromise our values each day, each hour… or for some is a culture that provides no guidance on creating stable values in their lives so often some individuals go through life hurting themselves and others.

I’ve worked hard at changing the direction of my life path toward one of love, balance, and simplicity. I live in an amazing place, in an equally amazing community that supports me in all I do and vice versa. So when I took that “day” job I had to dig deep to decide if this was the right thing despite that fact that my work will contribute to an economy of big business and global imbalance.

Does that make me a hypocrite? I used to feel this way about the environment. I studied environmental law in law school and undergrad and always was challenged with not taking the principles that guided me all the way.

Perhaps that’s what it means to follow the middle path in Buddhist philosophy. Life can’t be all one thing… it never is. We know that from that fact that no one person can fulfill all your needs, we are constantly changing, adjusting, growing, evolving. Through all this we create healthy boundaries that help us become our best self. There is more searching to do. I believe that I can take this opportunity to be a guide toward something better for these businesses by just being myself, holding onto my principles and ultimately influencing a shift.

The Middle Path opens the eyes, produces knowledge, and leads to peace, insights, and enlightenment. -Buddha

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I began writing this article before reading the book because the media images are so beautiful. But, it is the intention behind Art of Attention that caught my … attention. And from there I looked to create a workbook for teachers and students that is as artful as it is inspiring.

Art and inspiration are two reasons why I practice, teach and love Yoga. The job of a yoga teacher involves of level of curative editing. The creative process of designing a class that is beautiful, effective, inspirational, intelligently aligned, safe and moving, while maintaining a connection to breath, the students’ process. A teacher must also coordinate those elements with music, be adaptive enough to accommodate an absolute beginner or a knee surgery, and finally, have the presence of mind to not stumble over words, say too much and maybe even make a joke that actually illicits laughter.

It’s not so easy. So, when a book comes along to assist in creating artistic sequences in an organized and beautiful way, I couldn’t wait to read it.

The Art of Attention is a testament to the power of collaboration – which I love. Art of Attention is co-authored by Elena Brower, a well know yoga teacher, mama, co-owner of Vira Yoga in NYC, an inspirational speaker for the Handel Group, and Erica Jago, a young yoga teacher and designer with an artist’s heart. They met at Wanderlust, forged a friendship after a class at Vira Yoga and an email conversation and sealed their partnership at Burning Man. Their story alone is inspirational , candid and a dream come true for both the younger Erica and elegant and experienced ElenaThe Art of Attention is the type of book you can return to again and again, just opening a page and finding inspiration. Much like Rolf Gates’ classic Meditations from the Mat, but with a different and more feminine and intuitive perspective. More muse-like and with artful imagArt of Attention is as practical as it is beautiful. Five sequences, laid out pictorially and layered with evocative themes: Release Tension and Find Forgiveness, Let Go of Blame, Explore Your Highest Potential, Breathe and Find Stillness, and Let Your Practice Reflect Your Life. These sequences masterfully weave thematic elements into the asana practice – a pathway towards the true depth of the yoga practice.

This book comes at a time where I am only beginning to find my own depth and voice as a yoga teacher. For the last 7+ years, I have been diligently uncovering what it is that I have to say and how I wish to express myself in my classes. That creative process– the art of yoga is so important. It is the life blood of yoga classes that have juice, depth, that encourage risk taking, following our intuition, knowing one’s self, and finding faith.

Really anyone can teach a yoga class – take you through postures, remind your to breath and relax, but it takes more chutzpah to truly teach from the deep and ancient well of one’s heart. Art of Attention encourages just this by clearly showing the multiple layers explored within a class – the physical practice, the emotional and energetic connection, the settling down of the mind, the release of habitual patterns, and the
opening to greater and greater awareness and expanded consciousness.

Through reading Art of Attention, I have found a handbook that invites me to return to the depth of who I am, and offer that when I teach. It provides a simple and powerful structure to contain my wild ideas and mind and to harness that life force that I hold into powerful and meaningful yoga experiences. It encourages creativity, and honest and deep contemplation. It reminds me to cultivate the art of attention in every area of my life. I am deeply grateful for this book.

The more inner work is deepened, the wider external work should become, and the more external work widens, the deeper internal work should become. – Rodney Collin

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“Allowing ourselves into desire’s abyss turns out to be the key to a more complete enjoyment of its fruits.
By experiencing desire in its totality:
gratifying and frustrating, sweet and bitter, pleasant and painful, successful and yet coming up short, we can use it to awaken our minds. The qualities that desire seems to take for granted can be resolved through a willingness to drop into the gap between them.”
–Mark Epstein

Is this a free ticket to indulge in desire? Is desire an abyss?

Sometimes it sure feels that way…big, deep, wide, and endless. Desire for me goes straight to the heart. Allowing desire in also means opening, and opening my heart truly is my life’s work.

This quote connects desire to the heart asking us not to fear the heart opening, but to LOVE in the most real way possible. You know Love with all the stuff that goes along with it- the messy kind of love. Love that is disappointing, ecstatic, connected, misunderstood, awkward, and filled with pure happiness… It all begins with Desire.

However, desire is often the easy part, the crucial step is allowing. And regardless of WHAT you desire, believing and trusting that you are safe once you drop into that space is the greatest gift of all. That is the moment your essence shines and desire transforms into its simplest and purest form.

“Just remember what happened to the man that suddenly got everything he ever wanted…. He lived happily ever after.”
- Willy Wonka

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I am a goal oriented person. However, I learned a long time ago that goals and yoga just don’t mix. It was usually when I stayed consistent the transformation would just happen. But when I got to the point of just going through the motions I realized I may need to look outside my practice for something more. There was a time when my marriage ended that I did yoga for sheer mental survival. But now two years later, I’ve reached a point in which my approach is different, more spiritual, more grounding. Hardly a practice in which I push myself beyond my comfort zone, at least in the physical sense.

So I decided to follow a friend to the climbing gym. I had climbed outside only once before (on a date), the guy didn’t last, but I really enjoyed the challenge. I actually liked being scared. Really! I get the same sensation practicing handstands, but when you are on a wall holding on, giving up is a lot harder than just bringing your feet back down. Climbing made me feel strong, I could breathe through the discomfort, fear, and set goals! It’s also one of the few sports that truly compliments a consistent yoga practice i.e. it won’t undue the growth you’ve experienced in your yoga body like cycling or running can. A lot of my yogi friends also climb so its been pretty easy to get into the mix- sort of.

Now don’t get me wrong- I suck at climbing. But so what. Trying something new, reaching beyond what was comfortable for me was all I needed to get my head back in the game of continuing to grow. Yoga will always be my first love, but climbing is proving to be exactly what I need to keep moving forward.

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Here are a few tried and true options for bringing the yoga studio to you for a fee you can manage no matter your budgetary constraints.

YogaGlo.com

For $18 a month, be exposed to the greats:  Seane Corn, Richard Freeman, Sianna Sherman and Kia Miller (plus so many more). All offer a variety of classes with a great mix of styles. You can even choose your class based on how much time you have available which is amazing on the days that you only can spare 15 minutes for a guided meditation. Bonus: they offer a free 15 day trial to new users.

YogaToday.com

Tested and endorsed by a good friend of ours, YogaToday is marketed not only as a convenient way to do yoga away from the studio, but a community of healers and wellness professionals that you can interact with and learn from. They offer a variety of pricing structures (the most basic of which is free). Bonus: classes are filmed in beautiful, often outdoor locations.

BlackSwanYoga.com

GTY loves BlackSwanYoga! Based in Austin, TX this is truly a “yoga for the people” type of community and their online offerings reflect that. At $8 a month, it’s pretty hard to find a reason why you shouldn’t add a little BSY to your life. Bonus: classes are optimized for your mobile devices and there are many free classes to preview before you commit.

Barre3.com

As an alternative to traditional yoga, Barre3 blends yoga, pilates, and ballet barre work creating an alignment based strengthening practice that you will be hooked on immediately. Monthly membership is only $15 and you can cancel anytime (but you won’t want to!) Bonus: workouts are offered in 10, 30, 40, and 60 minute increments making strength training accessible on even the most impossibly busy days.

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Behind the scenes, this powerhouse idea acts as a revolutionary new way to market a business because it is very affordable (read: FREE) yet it delivers what it says it will: more customers, greater loyalty, and protected value. And the business owner only pays for it when it works.

We’re not saying we don’t love the occasional $3 yoga class purchased through a discount program like Groupon or Living Social, but we know in our hearts that our beloved small businesses can’t sustain the value cuts that come along with these offers and, well, it just doesn’t feel right to participate in that sense. So when something like this comes along, we want to hit it hard.

Visit the website to download the app for free to get started. For now, RallyCause is widely available in Bend, OR (with a few participating businesses in Eugene and Portland) and it’s only a matter of time before it hits it’s stride and goes big time. We feel good just writing about it, imagine how you’ll feel actually using it. Rally on!

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Now let’s rise up, shall we?

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The YogoMat is a revolutionary design weighing less than 2 pounds and offering an innovative strapping system that not only allows you to travel light, but through it’s unique folding mechanism keeps the side of your mat that you practice on clean and sanitary (airport yoga, anyone?)

This is YOUR chance to be a part of something great. Pledge $1 or $100, but don’t delay: each pledge level is limited, as is the YogoSport swag that accompanies it. And to sweeten the deal even more, Ryon plans to donate 5% of proceeds from the first run of YogoMats to the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation and Nextstep Fitness, organizations that support individuals suffering from spinal cord injuries (Lane himself suffered a broken neck in 2008, and it is his yoga-aided recovery that eventually inspired the YogoMat).

Help GTY spread the word about this amazing story! And let’s get those YogoMats on the market where they belong. Stay tuned to the YogoSport facebook page for updates!

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