Prana Revolution Yoga Mat

Yoga Oasis in Tucson, AZ is where my Anusara practice rocks in a mind blowing fasion. Word through the grapevine is Yoga Oasis' Michael Longstaff, also known as "MiLo" , the art director and designer of the Anusara Yoga syllabus poster featuring Darren Rhodes, has created a video for the new Prana Revolution yoga mat.

He's cool. This video is cool. Check it out!

Love, Em

Equinox, Santa Monica

While strolling around 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica, CA I decided to walk into Equinox and ask for hire to teach classes. Lucky me, timing is everything and I have an audition Tuesday. Whenever applying to teach fitness to groups the 1st task is participation in as many classes as possible to feel out the teaching style at the facility.

So, participate I did. Yesterday I began with Jay Co's Power Yoga Hour, a softer power yoga sequence set to old school r & b music which had me giggling. Jay has a gentle tone and doesn't adjust his students, usually a good idea for larger class sizes like this one.

I then popped into Amy Dixon's Global Conditioning class which uses Bosu balls in every possible way, shape, and form. From ab twists to running man push ups, this class was quick and packed a punch. Techno-pop music is not my cup of tea though and I would have enjoyed the class more if the tunes were more in sync. Amy has a rad personality and a voice perfect for teaching powerful classes!

Jill Miller's Yoga Tune Up was my last class to drop in on. Jill has created this class using Yoga, therapeutics, calisthenics, and her own form of primordial exercises. On a blanket we squiggled, twisted, and scooted like earth worms while Jill shouted out complex anatomical terminology leaving some asking, huh? She knows whats up and how the body works. Her classes are explanatory and exploratory. You've never taken anything like Tune Up... trust me.

Equinoxfitness.com

Santa Monica Business License Marathon

Being of service to our communities sometimes proves to be complicated . Webs of permits, licenses, insurance, referrals, and certifications are now needed to ensure organization, verification, and qualification. This is fine and dandy, but, I believe loads of paperwork deters people who have something to teach from doing so. Much loved and needed community classes on health, meditation, fitness, self-defense, or even cooking are shrinking.

Today I had the pleasure of speaking with Ebba, Santa Monica's head honcho of community and cultural services. She's cool.
Together we worked to complete all my necessary paperwork, ensuring my entry into the Santa Monica community class instructor program:

1. Sole-proprietor Santa Monica City business license
2. City insurance,
3. General liability, fingerprints,
4. W9 taxpayer ID
5. Americans With Disabilities adherence
6. Fee schedule
7. Proposed compensation
8. Class specialty
9. Conviction information
10. References
11. Proforma
12. Customer service plan

WHEW! All to teach donation based community classes in the parks and recreational areas. Turns out donation based classes have become a take-away from the city's teachers so now teaching community classes in a no no if not in the city pay role .

I see how the system is meant to serve the community but... man, oh man.

Luckily, my determination to have fun with my community outdoors has carried me through the process and soon I will be teaching workshops and classes where ever I please.

Outdoors, stuffy studio personalities and the business of yoga do not apply. It's a fun gathering of new buddies, calm thinking, and cool pacific breeziness!

My schedule is soon to come so keep checking in!!

City Yoga

West Hollywood's City Yoga is LA's former Anusara kula.  Anthony Benenati, founder, made a decision to re-establish the studio as a multi-faceted Yoga center.  Many of City Yoga's teachers have moved elsewhere, begun individual kulas, or only teach privately now.    However,  Noah Maze, Tara Judelle, and Linda Eifer - amongst the most respected teachers - remain at least part-time at City Yoga.  

I've been jumping at the opportunity to practice, "The Practice" with Noah, Tuesdays 1:00 P.M. - 3:00 P.M.  Intensity, bliss, laughter, and community all make this a very special 2 hours.  I've met many of the teachers at the studio and we've swapped Anusara stories like baseball cards.     

Noah begins The Practice rarely with a discussion rather a beautiful invocation and longer meditation.  Then it's on like Donkey Kong.  Somedays he's filled with Ashtanga-like inspiration demanding agility and speed-fast.  Somedays he prefers Iyengar-esque restorative practice.  Then there is his practice involving innately intuitive poses and just-for-the-occasion outbursts of laughter and story.  Always though are extraordinarily advanced pose-   Vashistasana to Hanumanasana to pada-to-your-sirsa-Hanumanasana ;)

Tara Judelle teaching style is inspired through voice.  The way she explains, delivers, and comprehends creates an incredible channel for further exploration of poses.  She's a storyteller and I dig it.

Check out City Yoga because there is a lot of Anusara history in those walls!

Exhale Spa, Venice Beach, CA

Exhale Spa in Venice, CA is yogi home to techers Shiva Rea, Seane Corn, Erich Shiffman and many more.  The studio is touted as the one of the best in the nation and with those teachers, rightfully so.  

My first class was Samantha Mehra's.  Filled to the brim with contagious giddiness, her beloved voice guided the class through a vinyasa flow with compliments of shakti dance poses.  I enjoyed the creativity balanced with the traditional sequencing.  Non-dogmatic yet firm, this vinyasa 2/3 class I recommend.

Matthew Cohen was my second Exhale class.  Unorganized and spacey, Matthew's class didn't gel with me.  His background is rounded by indonesian martial arts, taoist and hatha Yoga, practices derive deep enjoyment from,  yet his demeanor was tainted with aggression rather than instruction and there he offered little to no allowed self-modification of poses.  After class he reprimanded all for one person not signing in coining it "stealing."  Maybe I caught him on an off day.

The studio is beautiful and  is located on Main St, Venice, CA.  The guys who work at the front desk are incredibly accommodating and funny.  The sign in sheet is located on a small table past the front desk and lines form quickly- especially for Seane Corn's class I hear.  She was just in Cambodia for Off the Mat Into The World and I have yet to take her class but will do so soon and write about my experience!  Many workshops are offered at Exhale from well known teachers worth checking out if in the area.  LA- gotta' love it.

Jason Handler’s Got It Goin’ On

Craving a deeper understanding of Yoga? Jason Handler is your man. Founder of Summerland Healing Arts, a healing center overlooking the blue pacific, Jason also offers acupuncture, nutritional consultation, yoga, and massage at this beautiful private practice.

Valedictorian of the elite Emperor's College of Traditional Oriental Medicine, Jason’s lovable personality and respected knowledge of Hatha Yoga, Qi Gong, and Internal Martial Arts create a beautiful opportunity to practice with a great teacher. Unifying Indian and Chinese energetic anatomy systems, his classes begin by offering beautiful explanations of the energetic body which slowly move into focused stances and circular movements.

Breath by breath, the practice soon blossoms into an energetic dance, slow and rhythmic. New students hold the stances and ask, “Why is my body shaking like this Jason?” surprised by their own body’s capability to feel and move energy. Long time yogis dig his blend of ancient practices many times sticking around after class to talk the talk.

Yoga can also practice with him Sunday and Wednesdays (Hatha Yoga) at Santa Barbara’s, Yoga Soup.

2448 Lillie Ave
Summerland, CA 93067
(805) 969-5917

Yoga Kula, Berkeley & San Francisco

Yoga Kula, Berkeley & Yoga Kula, San Francisco

Having blown into northern California with the winter wind, I found my self warming up with fellow Anusara yogis at Yoga Kula, Berkeley and Yoga Kula, San Francisco. This particular area of our world has been infused with yogic philosophy, progression, and contemplation. During practice these juicy infusions draw up through the ground and into the fingertips, palms, forearms... It’s raw, it’s good, it’s real. One can’t help but feel the legendary San Francisco yogic pulse.

Katchi Ananda’s SF (San Francisco) all levels class filled me with laughter and yummy sun light after having been in snowy Portland for the past month. The kula, being on the second floor, over looks SF and while practicing, black crows dive and dodge rays of sunlight outside the windows. Katchi challenged us to have fun in our practice again. Open to grace and loose the boundaries for the day. The “perfection” of a pose never arrives yet the satisfaction from calm bliss and delight in a pose is the practice in and of itself. She teaches with a dash of street, a pinch of demand, and a spoonful of humor. She offered us the idea of helping other women feel powerful, beautiful, smart, strong, and perfectly beautiful. Good message Katchi ;)

Berkeley holds it’s own being vibrant, fresh, evolving, and provoking. This studio is part of the community now. Abby Tucker, a spunky yogi with an awesome Texan accent taught a killer advanced class and challenged us to be free, think artistically, and see the space in between. After class she shared a photo of her son’s art; Jawbreaker candy colored spit which created a bizarre mural on the sidewalk in Arizona. ;) Hilarious!

I also jumped into Chrissy Graham’s class which was mellow and offered many, many awesome tips on hip openers. She will be teaching ‘the practice’ (a 3 hour advanced practice) beginning next week! Go Chrissy!

Check out the Yoga Kulas!!!

Radiantly Alive Yoga, Ubud Bali Teacher Training

Oh Ubud, Bali. Is there anywhere else like you in the world? Nope!

I had My decision was made. I was moving to Ubud, Bali and attending Daniel Aaron's Radiantly Alive Yoga Teach Training . I gave away everything I owned and hopped a plane after squeezing money from every corner of my life into one lump sum. I arrived 24 hours later, sleep deprived at Denpasar airport in Bali. The scent of insense wafted around me and the Gamelan music had me thinking I was dreaming. It could have been a dream. Bali is after all the land of trance.

Radiantly Alive arranged for Wayan, a Balinese driver friend, to pick me up at the airport. The first major difference a westerner notices when landing in Asia are the motor bikes. As Wayan dodged and made way for bikers, we eventually arrived in Ubud and my new buddy dropped me off at Monkey Forest Bungalows. Definitely the best deal on a room in all of Ubud. Hand carved doorways to the rooms, balconies, swimming pool, Birds Of Paradise, tropical flowers blooming perfectly every on every inch of the property... all for about $20 a night including breakfast coffee, fruit, and banana pancakes.

The next morning when I arrived at Anahata, the remote river resort where the teacher training took place, my jaw probably hit the ground. Each room had a cliff side mini infinity pool that appeared to drop into the river, monkeys swung freely, and intricate pebble mosaic walkways and jungle stairs led you throughout the resort. My fellow yogis were arriving and although slightly nervous and excited to be spending a month together, we were all laughing together within an hour. We were handed our course books, a batik sarong, and a non-chalant welcome.

Each morning, Emil Wendell, who used the word cool more appropriately than anyone I'd ever met, led 5 am meditation and pranayama. Our schedule was jam packed and some mornings I needed to be alone so I skipped out secretly ;). Emil is now one of my most recommended teachers. His ability to tell stories in a gentle and engaging way is super unique. He is after all a master philosopher! I think some of us had a little crush on Emil.

Simon Oliver Borg, a freaking master of yoga in every way possible, shared his knowledge of the bandhas and his method of yoga which he calls, yoga synergy. Using little audible breath, Simon taught us to internally heat the body quicker than I ever knew possible. Through grace full movements, pranayama, and wise use of all the bandhas, I knew I had learned some extremely beautiful yoga. I was totally in awe of the man... totally. So much so that I'm looking into studying more with him in Australia.

Edward Clark... wow. How is possible to even put this guy in a category. His personality is so blunt and other worldly, one might think he is on psych-meds. His humor is razor sharp and his method of teaching is absurd yet incredible superb. He calls it Tripsichore. The equasion would be yoga+ dance + punk ballet= Tripsichore. He wears the teeniest yogi shorts and has the best understanding of uddiyana and shushumna out of any teacher I've known.

Elaine Love founder of Pure Joy Planet and her awesome helpers danced, sang, and slaved to prep raw food for 40 people 3 times a day for 30 days!!! Mangosteen, bali bananas, cashew nuts, homemade cereals, raw pizzas... the food we ate was the best of the best and the freshest of the fresh. Unbelievable!

We also had hilarious anatomy lessons with Chris Kummmer, astanga, NLP with Alstair Aprentice, and performances by Wah and Dave Stringer.

Daniel Aaron, founder of Radiantly Alive, is truly the orchestrator of an amazing unity of practitioners. He himself is hard around the edges and I believe it's all part of the plan. Conflicts of interest arose and I personally felt he was a jerk at times but then again, his classes were incredible because of his strict demeanor and rigor. I began to understand his tactics and appreciate his style. I hadn't been in a Jivamukti class prior to the teacher training a Jivamukti is his practice. It's very on point and rigorous yet soft in yummy places. Daniel is definitely known for picking THE BEST music for any given moments and his use of words for instruction have helped me immensely. Thanks D!

We ate, we sang, we practiced, we laughed, we became a family. Check out Radiantly Alive. you'll be talking to the lovely Heather Bonkers who organizes all the correspondance! Nothing will inspire you more than Bali, the land of trance! I'll definitely be back soon... very soon.

PS. I am Yoga Alliance certified through Radiantly Alive

Wild Rose, Chiang Mai Thailand

While in Chiang Mai, Thailand I smacked right into Wild Rose Yoga, an upbeat, free spirit, and experienced community of yogis! It was love at first sight! Rose, the unforgettably kind and spunky Los Angeles, CA native with Thai heritage is owner of Wild Rose
. Instantly we were laughing it up and I knew this was my kind of place. The studio offered an awesome yogi spa which was like a class with everyone steaming and relaxing in the spa sauna with home made scrubs and oils, Thai style! Sadly the studio is closing due to a mega gym opening close by and I'm heart broken. Rose is trying her best with the help of the community to re-open so write her, send her some encouragement, check out her site for updates and when in Thailand, look her up! She's hilarious and so are the instructors whom I got to know dearly!

BEST OF LUCK WILD ROSE!
Love,
Emily

Yoga Oasis, Tucson, AZ

The Tucson, AZ Yoga Oasis will capture your yogi heart at first pose. Tucson happens to be my hometown but lo and behold, it took a major move to California to discover on a trip home to Tucson, my true practice and where it grows the strongest - Yoga Oasis.  

This Anusara kula (yoga community) is home to an unusually remarkable yoga community and unparalleled teachings. Yoga Oasis' teachers are among the most receptive, strong, well respected and intuitive in the country and have created a true community out there in the elusive desert! Believe me, I've been on the search!   ;) 

 As much as I loath the desert heat, the practice I experience at the Yoga Oasis kula is enough to make me move back. I hear through the grapevine, someone turned down a great job in another city to remain close to the Yoga Oasis! I totally love my yogi friends there and know they are always expanding more and more boundaries! Hop in the car and drive to Tucson - it is winter after all and Tucson is the place to be - still hot. 

Drishti Yoga, Santa Barbara Love

Once upon a time I worked with Drishti, Santa Barbara, CA's yoga portal.

Portal: a grand and imposing entrance (often extended metaphorically); "the portals of the cathedral"; "the portals of heaven"; "the portals of success"

Jennifer Rawlings, a young and unforgettable woman whom oozes kindness and laughs with the most contagious fever, molded, inspired, and founded Drishti, the Santa Barbara, CA yoga boutique that's touched oh-so many people, yogi or not. She's that cool person who's aware she's injecting scrumptious goodness into the lives and communities of many. The delicious part is, she creates and allows the space for her friends, employees, and customers to become inspired, make a change, and fly higher than they ever thought possible without touting any fame or influence.

I am truly inspired by Jenni and her influence on my life has been infinite and has fulfilled a deep void which was screaming for authenticity, truth, and equality. This is about as sappy as I allow myself to be... I am a better being because of Jenni's ways. As an employer she offers her best...her best! As a friend, she is the most fun loving, dorky, giggling, informed, educated, community involved, warm buddy ever!

Support her and other businesses like Drishti that work with our communities and strive for positive change!
Purchase yoga books, music, clothes, DVD's, yoga mats & more fun yoga related products and inform yourself on current issues we face as a nation and funny yoga tidbits with the Drishti Blog!

You may read this post at Get In Emily's Head too!

Love, Em