Teaching

I'm going to teach. I have to, really- I do. If I don't teach, I will never know. Many people have all kinds of trainings under their belt but are not teaching their gift. The magic can become lost, the tools dull. What you don't use, you lose. Going to bed one night recently I was wondering what others would think of this style of yoga that I am now trained in teaching. Key word: Teaching.

I was wondering how I would be as a teacher (already know I'm great). I was wondering if I would ever teach?
People have been asking me all over the place, "Where are teaching?" "Are you teaching yet?" All that jazz.

And I will be, I keep saying, or something like that.

So anyway, back to laying in bed one night. Actually, I was laying on floor. I was sleeping on the floor. Not for postural support or renunciation of material things b/c I'm this 'enlightened yogi' now. But b/c Bob, my sub-letter was still in my room. So there I was laying on floor in our common space area, Doug around the corner sleeping when it struck me, 'I have to teach now'.

This is my Karma Yoga, or service oriented gift that I must give back. To enable me to live more holistically I feel one must give and be in the process of giving. For me, I give money to the homeless as well as grant them my being too (thats not just some time, it's also giving them my attention). I give artists money, I give people food. I like to give.  This style of yoga is the next level. It requires my time to give.

I am into many things and have various projects I am embarking on now that I am 'back', wherever back is, I realize I must teach. To give, to be known in the world for continuing what others have seen me learn in Hawaii which for myself- strengthens my own foundation. And of course knowing those answers that I now ask myself in bed, or in floor.

If you would like a session please let me know, I would be happy and honored to teach you tools you can use for the rest of your life, to feel better, to be healthier, and to receive, because receiving is also just as powerful as giving when you can allow yourself.

Forgetting to Remember

Just had a healing session with Daniel and Alan, two amazing practitioners staying at the MahaSiddha house with us. In the session, I realized 'why am i spending my time organizing my days and being on a schedule when I really have nothing to do, at all!'

Then it came to me that, and I'll quote one of my favorite mind-bending movies, 'Waking Life' "What was missing was felt irretrievable, the extreme uncertainties of traveling without working made excess necessary and breaks definitive." In other words, if I don't try to get somewhere, the place where I'm supposed to be will be shown via my heart.

It takes a lot of energy to plan. And maybe I'm supposed to stay here in the bay area for a bit longer? Maybe not? What about the long term? One thing Hawaii has provided for me is the sense that everything is ok as it is. And, the love of playing music and sound has come through for me. I bought a didgeridoo in Kauai and have become immersed in it. I am committed to mastering the didgeridoo, and all that is coming to me is wanting to play it in the streets for people. Huh? Ok. This little heart of mine, I'm gonna let it shine, and follow that heart towards the blissful state that anyone can attain by doing so. 

The challenge; being courageous enough to walk the walk and step outside the expectations that I have adopted and downloaded from myself and others in my life. To live a true life is to go on through it without knowing where to go but still having an idea of what one wants, right?

This is where I'm heading with it, really, no kidding around. (click)

Mainlanding

I think I'll mainland it for a while, maybe a looong while? I arrived in California today and after 3 flights the most challanging aspect to my travels was no doubt the bus/train/bus/train/cab connection from San Jose-->Berkeley. Took me 4 hours to commute, but only $11. That's a big mahalo to the finance gods and a sure fire slowdownyourasana tenant.

And, apparently I brought the Hawaiian sun with me! It was easily in the 80's. Plus, I am completely and absolutely bringing the Aloha spirit with me as well. Big mamish mahalo to Darius and the Mahasiddha Buddhist home for hosting me. I am in exactly the place I am supposed to be. Totally clear.

Conscious like-minded people here openly sharing life and each others gifts. I was already invited to share Yogalign with the crew here. You guys are all amazing. Aloha spirit-stoked! It's time to be the teacher I know myself to be.

Although I must say that perhaps the most interesting feature of being back on the mainland (it's not the noise or grotesque, endless shopping) is that my back is peeling like a mutha'! When I was a kid I used to love it when I would get tan and peel. But I ain't seen nothin' like this before, check it out!

(granted the pic doesn't do complete justice)


Was it because my body knew I had left island and now the re-acclimation process has begun? Was it the countless hours on the 3 planes trying to sleep unsuccessfully while I squirmed against my seat? Or was it the mainland water from the mainland shower that I took today which sent signals to molt?  No matter, any which way I slice it, I'm mainlanding now.

Right Now & Moving On~

4 days left in Kaua'i. Damn I'm gonna miss this place. People have said, "why don't you just stay?" I say, "I don't know, my home is in New York (or New Jersey)." Sure the air will be dirtier, the food not nearly as fresh, the people a little more aggravated and the pace A LOT FASTER. But, it's my home, so that's where I will be, for now.

Moving on, this blog will serve as a place to learn about alignment and yoga, and the humor and wonder of taking the philosophy of yoga (remember it's not just postures) out into the world with our people in our lives.

BUT, I promise you I will continue making videos of smoothies and fruits and foods that serve the yogic lifestyle of simplicity and wholeness, as well as other fun ones, just because. AND, I will be in California and Oregon until May 13th, so you will get to see more adventure and fun along the way, and hopefully some videos of me working with, I don't know, you!?

Let me know if YOU would like a session to check out the amazing benefits that YogAlign provides for feeling light and free in your body. It really is the bomb. We'll work out the details later.

Right now I am teaching a man for 4-days who has been a yogi for longer than I have been alive! He knows a lot, but what I am finding is that just because one practices yoga doesn't mean one doesn't have pain. It's amazing teaching Roberto, hopefully he will write in on this post and share. I'm almost in as much disbelief as he is witnessing his quads opening more than he has ever felt. Ever! Or seeing his face as he experiences his psoas (or hip flexors) opening up, he seems as though he is in shock! This work really does work, wow.

Mahalo for reading, B~

What's Yoga? What's Yogalign?

  Let's get to the yoga shall we. I figure it's time to share the style of yoga that I'm learning vs. the yoga I have been practicing for the last 6 and half years.  First. What is yoga? Basically, and I mean, REALLY basically (b/c my blog would run on forever just defining what yoga is with all the metaphors and interpretations I can come up with) yoga literally means "union."  Satchidananda Ashram, the editor of Patanjali's Yoga Sutra's describes yoga as "the understanding and complete mastery over the mind" and later says yoga is the study and science of the mind to master its reactions and behaviors, or to become one with what is going on outside of us so we are connected to each other and what is-is in the moment. 

  Most people think yoga is just a bunch of physical postures to become more flexible or strong or limber, what have you.  This blog is about yoga being on the mat and off of it, which is why I practice, so I can be happy and with my body in any pose (situation) without trying to control it or wish it was different or wish I was different, etc.  Instead of being in two places at once, you know-my mind is in one place and my body is someplace else. Make sense? The physical practice is a practice for living.  Ok, moving on.

  Yogalign, the method of yoga I am studying is going to give some people a real test to what they think yoga is. For instance, the traditional yoga posture, pictured here, Prasarita Padottanasana is supposed to benefit the spine, knees, back, hamstrings, etc. according to Yoga Journal. But how is it doing that? Because in this picture the knees are hyper-extended and the sacrum is rounded and possibly crunched. This is not supporting natural alignment and doing this will train the body to move out of it's natural integrity. And, for most people, they'll never get here, but they'll try really hard, and that's not good. 

  Michaelle always says "You can't get comfortable by being uncomfortable." And, "You can't get in alignment by being out of alignment."  So, why are we doing it this way when thousands of years of traditional yoga says otherwise?  Here, you will see our variation, which Michaelle calls 'Surfers Stretch.'



  We bend the knees to keep the curve in the lower back so our sacrum isn't getting crunched which can cause all sorts of injuries like nerve problems and disc problems. We are consciously breathing and feeling how the ribs and diaphragm move too. Because we are in this variation of wide legged forward bend we can also laterally stretch the side channels of fascia and lattisimus dorsi (the lats). It feels so good, I have never felt that whole lat muscle stretch this way before, its a real side and back opener-all in body integrity. 

  We are literally training our brain to put our body in or out of alignment, might as well do it correctly, right? If we are more aligned in our body, we are more aligned in our life, more able to pay attention to details and can be more attentive to the subtleties in our life, so we can pick up on the messages and signals and become more powerful human beings. And also so we can feel good! So many of us are in pain. 

  When you practice yoga next time, think of your spine, think of your sacrum, think of how you're breathing and ask yourself, "do I feel good right now?" "is my body supposed to be here?"  If your answer is something different than your yoga teacher has been telling you, ask them about the anatomy of the body. And if you are hurting or want to try something different, then I'll be home soon to help!

-Brandon.

Wrapping up and moving on-I'll be on the radio!

I'm about to eat lunch and bike down to one of the beaches, but of course, I have to post first.  Lunch is gluten free flax bread with almond butter and homemade grapefruit jelly made by a friend from class. I'll probably slide some local Arugula in between too.

To finish on this whole tensegrity (the body's integrity of structure) fascia conversation, I wanted to point out that the image I last posted with the bands and beams is how our body is held together, which I mentioned. What I forgot to say was that anytime we have a pull on one end of the tensegrity model, the other side is also constrained.  So that neck stiffness you have ain't coming from the neck, check your hips, sacrum or even your feet! Review the last 4 entries of this blog to catch up, if you haven't read it yet, do it. You just might learn something about your body!

Now, onto the weekend, I'm off for the week and I'm gonna go study some asana to find specific injuries I can work with people on if they are hurting, the weather has broken and I'm going on my first hike this weekend, work with a partner on Yogalign-maybe from the top of a mountain and then tomorrow night.... I will be making my community radio debut on a show called 'The Get Low Show' which highlights music from the best players around. 

Laura, my classmate is taking me on the air! I will be on KKCR Kauai community radio, from 10pm to midnight (Kauai time) where apparently we will be doing some partying too. You can listen in too, live streaming.

Have a great mahalo mamish aloha weekend.

We're 3D (pt.3)

  Listening to Thomas Meyers talk about the fascial system today in greater detail continues to puzzle me, but in a good way. In a way that is expanding my conception of how intricate the human body is and how meticulously created we are. Like, literally down to the cell. The reason the arm cannot extend beyond 180 degrees at the elbow is because a series of arteries and capillaries and veins are running through the arm. If the arm did extend beyond that point, they would rupture.

  Here's what I do want to talk about. Remember my post a few weeks back on proprioception? No? Ok, I'll review. Proprioception is basically, in my own terminology, how our body remembers to move, and does move in every situation, both physical and emotional based on how we record, store and process information. In other words, we are the physical manifestation of every experience we've ever had, to put it-bluntly.

  An example could be something like this. A teacher yells at a 5-year old in kindergarten when trying to grab for second helping of cookies from the cookie jar. The child was startled, shocked.  In that very moment, chemicals excreted from its' glandular system rapidly oozes and secretes and fear becomes known. The child shrugs the shoulders towards the ears and sinks the chest inward to protect the heart. From that moment on every time the child would receive desert from the teacher, the body would recoil in some fashion, fear was the past experience as the body replays the motions. As the child grew up and would be around an authority figure or let's say the lunch lady or a parent ready to give out desert, the body would in some way twitch towards this structural movement. It became ingrained. This is proprioception. This is of course a fictitious example and exaggerated, but not one that is far fetched. We all have these structural integrations that have been set neurologically. When this happens the fascia that connect the muscles and runs throughout the body become set to hold the body in that way.  Proprioception could also be something as passive as sitting at the computer in an irresponsible way. Irresponsible to how the body naturally is aligned, which will set the motor of the body to remember this position and repeat it over and over again.  Proprioception. Got it?

Ok, now I can move on. Here is what I wrote in my notes today while watching and listening to how the body's fascia, which is it's pliable, fibrous structure, like wrapping to taffy and is like a network which downloads all kinds of environmental information to hold the body upright, works.

'So the fascia is a moving neural casing or web that runs the length of the body and is directly related to our proprioception. So, by breathing in newly and with correct alignment, with a clear mind thinking positive, affirmative thoughts can open up and replace tight proprioceptive posture and reprogram the body, it's thoughts and emotions towards what is possible for the individual. We will now be able to move more freely in life without, not only physical restriction, but mental, emotional and psychological blockages as well. We will be reformatting the fascial system and reprogramming ourselves so we can come closer to achieving our highest potential.'


So listen up. If you have pain, if you have trauma, if you have doubt, fear or insecurity, or even if you have poor posture and your neck just hurts, you will need to realign your own structure and melt away the old fascial network holding your muscular system in place.  Because it's the fascia that is directly channeled to your systems make-up which gives you your posture, or how you show up in the world, just as you are-right now. Is this blowing your mind!? It is mine. You can literally melt away old fascia that no longer serves you by working the fascia itself.

That's the work I'm doing over here. It's not just yoga, its structural realignment and body transformation. I'll be soon posting videos showing you how to do this for yourself. It's magical. Just today Michaelle worked with me on my sacrum and at lunch all kinds of buried emotional stuff came out. You have to start relating to your own body as a storehouse for it's emotional make-up. The reason I couldn't open up my lumbar spine and sacrum was in part due to what I was 'holding' in it. That's all for now.

Why is it called that?

I'm about to depart, a new journey, a new life awaits. Welcome to my Hawaiian, Kauain yogic blog about my life, my visions, my insights from a small island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Now, so you can understand the name of this blog, eh-hem, Dhanurasana (pronounced, 'Don-yur-ahs-ahna) is commonly referred to as 'bow pose', Google-it. Of course, my mind went to great lengths and troubles to come up with an ideal blog title, so much so that a new fear of not creating a blog might actually have occurred due to the perfection I faced to just name it. Amazing.

Well, I named it. There were some other front-runners, like 'wordsong' and 'youngmanandthesea', but through it all, slowdownyourasana came to pass. But why this one?

Besides Dhanurasana being a yoga posture, I liked the way the words morphed together. It sounds like 'down your asana' (which could be another blog altogether for disgruntled yogis, or highly sexual yogis). Never-the-less, slowdownyourasana is about slowing down, being present and still with life, right now.

It's about yoga in the way that when we are on the mat, it never matters how 'good' we are 'doing' at yoga compared to others, which I hear very often, but about being where we are on the mat, in the moment, with what we got-all right now.

And for those of you who aren't yoga savvy, yoga doesn't just take place ON THE MAT, it takes its shape for those who practice off the mat as well. Like, how are you going to be on the subway or bus during the morning commute when there is traffic, loud people and other chaotic events?

How are you going to be when you get home from work and your kid or spouse is wound-up and frustrated, b/c you were expecting a peaceful return greeted by open and loving arms.

Well, that's the practice of yoga. For me, and many other yogis, it's about being present in life's chaos no matter where I am at.

So, I wonder how this NJ/NY man is going to fare in the slow-paced life of Hawaiin timing? Come back soon to find out, you're invited!