Shasta Yoga Institute

“Your yoga practice always has to be a little more clever than your habits.” ~T.K.V. Desikachar

How do you show up for your Yoga practice?

I love this quote by Desikachar because it asks me to question the importance of what one brings to the yoga practice and how that affects it’s real potency. It points the responsibility to the individual practitioner to fine tune their self awareness rather than to unconsciously follow a behavior within oneself or power play between teacher and student.

How do you show up for your practice? Do you find yourself repeatedly wanting the same results when coming to practice? Have you ever had an experience of complete freedom through your yoga practice? Does any of this inquiry relate to life ‘off the mat’?

How do you show up for life?

The yoga tradition offers us many self-care practices for well-being of body, mind and heart. However the main aim of yoga as a spiritual path offers insight into the human dilemma and how to skillfully navigate through the ups and downs with more inner awareness and ease.

Opening and unwinding physical and mental tension patterns, taking our guard down and being more fully present with oneself, opens up a space in which we can uplift our view and see ourselves more clearly. When we truly allow the yoga practices and the cultivation of an embodied presence to have it’s affect, the mental tapes, physical restrictions and emotional tendencies come to the surface and offer us the experience to simply Be. When we continually attune as well as surrender to awareness itself, freedom arises.

First, we must be motivated to be happy and second, we must be willing to take responsibility for our actions, including our thoughts and emotions and how they affect our inner and outer world. If we are not interested in being Self-aware, likely our habitual tendencies will drive our actions and the degree of our suffering. Our yoga practice and it’s affects might remain superficial and our human body, mind, heart might not see it’s full integration or potential.

Here and now, you are invited to show up fully for each practice and for Life!

Long-time Yoga Teacher, Mark Whitwell on the Teacher-Student Relationship:

“In the entire great tradition of human wisdom the universal method is the mutual affection between two real people, the teacher-student relationship. This is not a relationship of authority over another, it is not a parent child relationship. It is one of utter mutuality. The teacher is no more than a friend and no less than friend. In this friendship real bhakti arises, not manufactured feelings for an authority or public persona, trying to get somewhere, trying to get something that seems absent most of the time. The teacher has no interest but to empower the student, to give the tools that allows the student to stand in his or her own power. When this happens true devotion, very real life long gratitude arises between two people who are obviously standing in the same garden! the same reality.”

Offering myself as a yoga mentor has become a natural progression through over 3 decades of teaching yoga and training yoga teachers. It is an opportunity to foster the relationship between teacher and student as well as to share ways to support a Yoga practitioner to follow their own Svadharma in relationship to their yogic journey (See “Follow Your Bliss” : http://shastayogainstitute.com/blog/).

Honoring Yoga’s sacred teachings and the shared wisdom between teacher and student offers an in-depth support professionally, personally and spiritually for the student to integrate Yoga into daily living. Below is a glimpse into the mentorship content although each pathway is unique to the teacher-student relationship and experience.
For those on a Teachers Path, mentorship can facilitate the next level of confidence, understanding and skill refinement for teaching. On a Life-Long Learners Path, mentorship is an opportunity to receive the teachings directly from teacher to student, to deepen Yogic knowledge and personal as well as spiritual refinement.

I look forward to exploring with you! –Amy

~Teachers Path (TP)
This path is a specialized one-on-one mentoring program designed for 200-hour or 500-hour YTT graduates. It is an opportunity for teachers or teachers in training to expand their skills while deepening their knowledge of the practice. This mentorship is specifically designed to support educational development and personal interests.
Based on interests topics may include:
Class sequencing, alignment for different body types, hands-on assisting, appropriate cueing, crafting special series and/or workshops, and finding one’s voice.

~Life-Long Learners Path (LLLP)
This is a specialized one-on-one mentorship pathway designed for dedicated and experienced yoga students looking for an in-depth study of personal development and refinement.
Based on needs topics may include:
Personal practice development including posture, breathing and meditation, healthy life style choices, and opening the heart for peace of mind and healthy relationships.
For more information and what each pathway includes go to: http://shastayogainstitute.com/amycooper/mentorship-pathways/

Yoga’s alchemy offers a deepening within oneself, a movement from the periphery towards the core nature of being human. 

Take a moment to consider your state of being when you first came to yoga. What was your experience of yourself in that first practice? How has your experience of yourself changed over the course of your yoga practice? How does yoga support your inner life and your current growth?

Yoga teaches us to be present and to source from within. Thus it is important to tune in to the awakened heart, aka. bodhichitta… The practice of yoga, including meditation and self-inquiry are a means to attune more with one’s own inner experience and with being awake. Amidst more challenging emotions and dynamics, Yoga can provide a reliable accessibility to wisdom and compassion and in addition, loving kindness.

Our hearts and minds open and become more vibrant as well as peaceful when we feel into ourself and others with loving kindness, aka. metta… An amazing and surprising spaciousness can also be felt in the body through the offering of metta. This can be a true healing and renewing experience which I invite each of you to do on your own (see resource below) or please join me Saturdays at 10 AM for Meditation and metta…

Amy

Metta practice resource: https://www.tarabrach.com/guided-meditation-metta-lovingkindness/

What Effects the Breath? Everything!

Depending on many factors, our breathing is either functional or dysfunctional (or somewhere in between). This has a direct affect on ones health and well-being. Factors such as, stress levels, lifestyle, diet, exercise, thought patterns and emotional states, health, medication use, habits & even the amount of talking!
Interestingly, the ancient yogis starting point for Pranayama (yogic breathing to extend the Life force) was a simple lifestyle, organic diet and quiet social life. In contrast, modern American yogis are coming from a varied diet, often laced with sugar and chemicals, and are primarily subject to a more complex lifestyle which includes more stress and an external focus.

As contemporary yogis, we can contemplate the roots of yoga practice, the closeness to nature and environmental elements in which yoga is integrated. From this we may be inspired to look more deeply at our life and perhaps fine-tune our life style choices so as to reap more benefits from our yoga practices… as well as from our breath on and off the mat!

You are invited to join me for a Pranayama and Health, Solstice workshop on Sunday, December 17 from 3 to 5 PM at the Shasta Yoga Institute ~
The Healing Power of Pranayama ~ Breath, Mind and Body Balance with Amy Cooper
Cost: $20 pre-reg by 12/9, $25 after
In the view of yoga the body is a combination of two important elements. One is the life force- Prana Shakti and the other is the mental force- Chitta Shakti. Since we are a composition of prana and chitta, when these two inner forces are balanced, life is more peaceful. In this spacious, extended class you will come to explore the breath and how it influences and supports your physical and mental well-being. Learn breathing techniques (Pranayama) to move the life energy in your body to flow more beneficially as well as contemplative practices for mental freedom and equanimity. REGISTER: email shastayogacenter@gmail.com or call (530)859-5433. Pre registration appreciated!

“The principle of nowness is very important to any effort to establish an enlightened society. You may wonder what the best approaches to helping society and how you can know that what you are doing is authentic and good. The only answer is nowness. The way to relax, or rest the mind and nowness, is through the practice of meditation. In meditation you take an unbiased approach. You let things be as they are, without judgment, and in that way you yourself learn to be.”  –Chogyam Trungpa

Embodied Mindfulness

I am happy to share that the weekly Saturday sitting meditation is continuing into the Autumn Schedule. Keeping alive how within meditation, when we consistently relax the mind, clear awareness and true insight grows; and that being present offers direct access to our natural mind and compassionate heart. Taping into this unbounded mind/heart consciousness is known in the Buddhist view as Bodhichita. This is a core aspect of meditation and of yoga embodied.

Along the classical yoga path Meditation or Dhyana, is the 7th limb within an 8-limbed yoga (ashtanga yoga) course. Although it sits higher up the tree of yoga, those of us who dive in deeply and are aligned with living consciously, realize that meditation is not separate from any other yogic branch or any other moment in life.

My experience from Yoga is that the body and the physical practice of yoga are vehicles for this unconditioned awareness, or Bodhichita. From this perspective Yoga’s physical limbs foster enhanced energy flow and balance within the body and the nervous system with a deeper motivation of being awake, kind and authentic to our life, to our relationships to self and others… the cultivation of Bodhichita.

With emphasis on the inward, compassionate awareness aspect of meditation, yoga has a greater impact on connecting individuals and creating a healthy society. Please join us Saturdays at 10 am following my yoga class from 8:15-9:45 am.

Namaste

Amy

Restoring Balance through Restorative Yoga

Restorative yoga has become more widely practiced since BKS Iyengar developed it through his therapeutic approach to Yoga. Generally speaking, restoring through Yoga is an essential aspect of Yoga since Yoga practices return our body/mind to its natural state of well-Being. The use of props in Restorative Yoga, such as bolsters and blankets to support the body, has a soothing yet powerful physiological affect; it promotes a “relaxation response” in the nervous system and counteracts the negative forces of a “fight, flight or freeze” response on the immune system. In addition, extended stays in yoga postures that stretch and tone the internal organs activates an internal cleansing and those that invert the body increase the functioning of the glandular system. By resting the bones that usually bear weight, and releasing the muscles that move us into action, the “undoing” quality within Restorative Yoga is powerfully healthy for body, mind, heart, and spirit.

Benefits of Restorative Yoga

The practice of Restorative Yoga helps to balance fatigue, mental or physical illnesses of all kinds and speed up recovery from sickness, injury, or general burnout. Moreover, a restorative practice can enhance the lives of people with back pain, migraine and tension headaches, high blood pressure, asthma, chronic fatigue, any stress related and/or immune dis-ease, or cancer. Restorative Yoga spontaneously brings the practitioner into a state of relaxation. From years of conditioning, the body/mind can live in a continued state of emergency (fight, flight or freeze). When the body is use to constant stimulation, relaxation takes patience to practice and a willingness to change patterns, supported by the desire to increase the quality of one’s life. Real relaxation requires and expresses a natural ease. Research has been done on the physiology of relaxation and a few very significant factors have been found. Primarily, to create a deep state of relaxation, one has to minimize sympathetic (fight, flight or freeze response) stimulation and maximize parasympathetic (rest and digest response) activation.

Join me for a Fall Equinox Restorative Yoga Session ~
The Art of Balance with Amy Cooper
Friday, September 22, 5:30-7:30 pm Cost: $25.

Riding the Waves with a Balance of Effort & Ease; Integrating a Core Yogic Principle “Practice” & “Non-attachment”

The Yoga gurus point us toward yogic methods that integrate the body, breath and mind to decrease our habituated patterns and bring clarity, calm, and realization of our true nature, which is free. What specific yoga principle supports life balance and inner harmony?

According to classical yogic teachings, we can loosen the habitual and dysfuctional mental tendencies known as vrittis and foster the peace and happiness that we seek through the core yogic principle, “Abhyasa Vairagyabhyam Tanniirodhah.”   –Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra; chapter 1, verse 12.

Yoga Master BKS Iyengar’s traditional translation from Sankrit: “Practice and detachment are the means to still the movements of consciousness.”

Contemporary Yoga Teacher Arthur Kilmurray offers: “Practice and dispassion lead to the resolution (of dysfunctional mind states).”

Both important Sanskrit words found in yogic texts, Abhyasa is most often translated as “consistent practice” and Vairagya as “non-attachment” but also relate to a familiar, perhaps easier to digest yogic principle of balancing Effort and Ease.

A simple analogy that offers insight into the meaning of these words is that of the banks of a river and the river itself. The banks offer structure, form and guidance. This is Abhyasa. Vairagya is the river itself. When we “go with the flow” and allow the current of life to move through us. The consistent effort of containment and the ease of being…

This analogy also reminds me of boating on the river and the effort required to get into position in order to catch and move into the current of the river.  Positioning the boat, often times working hard, fast and steady; just enough effort to avoid getting stuck in an eddie or on a rock or being overturned by a wave… important measures to moving downstream safely and enjoyably. This analogy invites deeper thought and a ripple of related and meaningful ideas to contemplate such as, the Self-inquiry below…

A Gift for You~ Self-Inquiry Exercise for Abhyasa:

What activities do I do on a regular basis to help sustain my health and well-being? What do I do consistently to honor the indwelling spirit? What activities or practices express a natural reverence for this embodied divine life? For example, being in nature, moving the body and keeping it fit, eating and sleeping well, practicing healthy life rhythms.

A regular practice of meditation and being mindful is also Abhyasa. Being present and familiar with a moment-to-moment inquiry cultivates an inner stable tranquility (sthitau) amidst the dysfunctional mental conditioning within us and the chaos of life.

A Gift for You~ Self-Inquiry Exercise for Vairagya:

In any given moment can I inquire, “is there ease here?” Can I allow and let be what life is flowing through me in this moment? Does Yoga support relaxing and letting go of habits and patterns that are perpetuating fear, anxiety and confusion?

Having a bigger view takes some of the personal preferences out of whatever may be happening or when moving through a difficult life situation or emotion and allows for more relaxation, positive feelings and experiences. True freedom and deep reverence grow out of Vairagya.

Enjoy your journey!

–Amy

This past June I received my certification as a Yoga Therapist with the International Association of Yoga Therapists. Some of the first teaching moments I remember from the 1980’s were of offering yoga one-on-one to friends and family members. These were sweet moments when something as simple as sharing a useful yoga pose, or a touch of my hand, or a reminder to breathe and that the body mattered, had a perceivable beneficial affect.  Along with a physical assist, an opening would occur within the heart of the person I was with, within myself as well as between the two of us! I have experienced many of these moments in wonder about the divine partnership that unfolds between us which is a by-product of the benefit to the individual student coming for healing.

After 36 years of teaching yoga I continue to see that real yoga is healthful and therapeutic. Yoga Therapy has been an evolving field in itself in which the focus within the yoga process explicitly offers curative and remedial benefits to meet the needs of an individual in a one-on-one setting. With this said, the role of a Yoga Teacher is not to cure but rather to support some kind of positive transformation
in the human being; a Yoga Teacher helps students renew for themselves ways of being that facilitate change.

Yoga Therapy is the application of the ancient practice of yoga to be a catalyst for health and well-being on the physical body, to balance and integrate the body, mind and emotions as well as to awaken and realize the spiritual dimension of Being. Ultimately what makes yoga therapeutic is that it addresses the needs of each individual in the present moment regarding their age, culture, religion, seasonal influence and current physical condition in order to promote optimal balance and healing for body, mind and heart.

From yoga’s philosophical, psychological and spiritual perspective, the root of illness arises out of a lack or weakness in connection with the spiritual aspect of one’s Self. From the view of yoga as a healing art, it promotes a movement away from separation and towards wholeness and unity; the connection with community, with nature and with ones true essence as the means to integration, health and wellness.

In regards to your current life and/or body balance, consider having a private lesson or a series of private sessions to focus more definitively on what you would like to see happen for yourself! Click here: http://shastayogainstitute.com/classes/yoga-therapy/ to see details and contact me at shastayogacenter@gmail.com to make an appointment.
I can help you help yourself with:

• Home practice sequences
• Back care
• Psoas health
• Joint pain
• Scoliosis
• Arthritis
• Stress related issues
• Immune function
• Hormone balancing
• Breathing difficulties
• Energy balancing

   Blessings on your well-being,
                                 Amy Cooper

“…Yoga must always be adapted to an individual’s changing needs in order to derive the maximum
therapeutic benefit…” -Yoga Master, T. Krishnamacharya

A Definition of Yoga Therapy from International Association of Yoga Therapists

“Yoga therapy is the process of empowering individuals to progress toward improved health and wellbeing
through the application of the teachings and practices of yoga. The yoga tradition views each
human being as a multidimensional system that includes numerous aspects—including body, breath,
and mind (intellect and emotions)—and their mutual interaction. Yoga therapy is founded on the
basic principle that intelligent practice can positively influence the direction of change within these
human dimensions, which are distinct from an individual’s unchanging nature or spirit. The goals of
yoga therapy include eliminating, reducing, and/or managing symptoms that cause suffering; improving
function; helping to prevent the occurrence or re-occurrence of underlying causes of illness; and
moving toward improved health and well-being.” – from the IAYT website on Scope of Practice

Life is the Teacher  ~ The Principle of Svadharma

The heart of yoga’s teachings invite us into the depth of our being and into an inquiry about the truth of who we are. Knowing the principle of Svadharma can offer us a refuge amidst societal pressures and an unknown world. 

“Svadharma” means one’s own true path, true calling or organic design. “Sva” means self (identity in the world). “Dharma” means truth or way (of the individual in the world).

Our yoga practice brings our attention inward to a wider and deeper view of who we are in relationship to life. It points us inward to be true to our own heart and attend to what mythologist Joseph Campbell referred to as, “follow your bliss…” (full quote below)

Although we play many roles in life- in family, community, society and the world, we can flow more freely through these different roles if we honor and respect our unique calling; how we serve and are a part of a harmonious whole is also an aspect of Svadharma. 

Through following our Svadharma, we learn to work with our natural being and grace rather than against it. Svadharma can be uncovered by observing what gives us a deep sense of joy and satisfaction… follow your bliss!

“Follow your bliss.

If you do follow your bliss,
you put yourself on a kind of track
that has been there all the while waiting for you,
and the life you ought to be living
is the one you are living.

When you can see that,
you begin to meet people
who are in the field of your bliss,
and they open the doors to you.

I say, follow your bliss and don’t be afraid,
and doors will open
where you didn’t know they were going to be.

If you follow your bliss,
doors will open for you that wouldn’t have opened for anyone else.”

     –Joseph Campbell