What is Yoga?

The practice of yoga is a blend of art and science that creates union between body, mind and spirit. Its objective is to generate awareness of our thoughts, movements, and behaviors to live as fully realized beings intimately connected to the unified whole of creation. Living a healthier life brings about a sense of peace when we suffer less injury and degeneration and we are better able to take care of ourselves and our family. Yoga is compassion in action.

Yoga has numerous benefits to the body, makes you feel very good, and has much less incidence of injury than most forms of exercise. In each class, you will get instruction in breathing, stretches and movements, called asana (AH-san-a), and meditation.  You will likely feel calm and peaceful, and with regular practice you will feel more inner peace in your day-to-day life.  Many people report great improvement of degenerative conditions for which they once needed pain medication! Yoga also emphasizes the principle of non-harming which includes kindness to oneself with patience and respect for your own body’s capabilities. Although yoga can be challenging at times, it is not a competition, and it is best done with an open mind.

Although anyone of any background or worldview can practice yoga, the primary philosophies behind the teaching comes from two ancient Indian sages named Patanjali (Pa-TAN-ja-lee), who wrote The Yoga Sutras, and\the Buddha who both came from India more than 2,000 years ago.  It was originally taught as a physical discipline to purify and prepare the body for long periods of meditation and stillness. It is during this stillness that transformation takes place. While most people experience a peacefulness similar to spirituality, yoga is not intended to create or replace any religious beliefs.

Yoga will compliment any fitness routine you currently engage in or it can be your main form of exercise. One thing is for certain: the more you do it, the better you’ll feel. You can enhance your understanding by taking classes and viewing many useful articles and books you can borrow or buy. We encourage you to take a look at our favorites on our website’s Resources page. We also offer private sessions, enrichment courses, and yoga teacher training.

The level of transformation that takes place is directly related to how involved you become with the practice. Yoga is completely natural, and nature takes its time. Don’t give up. We are here to teach you and guide you toward your personal goals and transformation.  Lastly, remember that the ultimate authority on you, is you. To paraphrase the Buddha:  “Don't blindly believe what is said or believe because others convince you. Find out for yourself.”  In other words, if what we teach resonates with you, put it into practice, but always be true to yourself.  

Spring into love with yoga

I am more in love today with my yoga practice than I ever have been.  As for one who is prone to human failings and lack of discipline, I have deep gratitude for things (can we call yoga a "thing"?) that can gently and firmly keep me aligned with truth. 

Is there not something in the corner of your mind that strays you from your truth?  And do you not absolutely love who, or what, can hold you truthfully to your moral compass, your priorities, and your goals with authenticity?  I do.  It holds me accountable.  It holds me to my truth.  It holds me to my higher purpose which is essential for my soul's growth.

This is my yoga practice. Although the rough times and the easier times come at me equally, the practice of coming to the mat (or the cushion, for meditators) during the easier times makes the harder times a little easier to get through.  Over time, the perception of "difficult" and "easy" starts to blur.  And when that happens, it is much easier to find joy in even the most mundane of activities!  (Imagine feeling joy much of the day, even as you go about your daily chores!!)

In the beginning, the hardest thing to do was developing the discipline to roll out the mat.  Once I got on it, however, my body just knew what to do.  I had to schedule yoga time-- whether I thought I needed it or not-- because I knew the routine would benefit my scattered mind.  Later on, my body would tell me to do yoga and I created a special space in my home to do it. 

Over the years, I have developed a relationship with yoga like a good marriage.  It takes work.  It takes discipline.  But it always feels like love.   Sometimes, tough love, and I need that. 

Why won't they listen?

So you’ve been telling your friend for a while now that they need to take better care of themselves— but they just won’t listen!  Maybe they don’t know HOW to change?  What can you do to help?

1. Be an example. Let your light shine with a healthy attitude by being an example of good health. Eat in moderation. Set aside a little time to meditate and to practice something you learned in yoga class, even for a few minutes. Get in good company with other healthy people.


2. Share your experience. This is the yogic principle of satya: being honest about yourself and your truth. Be clear about the main things that you practice to stay healthy, and invite them to do it with you. Invite your friend on a walk, or share a healthy meal. Reinforce your own healthy habits by talking about what drew you to yoga and how you feel as a result. Ask them to join you at your favorite yoga class. They will likely feel better that same day and you will, too, for helping someone in need.

3. Be encouraging, not pushy. Everyone has to find their own way through hard times, but you know that peace of mind is found through three, simple, daily actions: proper breathing, moving your body, and meditation. Encourage your friend to take 2 minutes every day to just breathe. The simple act of breathing encourages mindfulness, which calms the nervous system in just minutes. This is the foundation for your yoga practice.

4. Be patient and kind. Loving-kindness toward all beings is the yogic principle of ahimsa. We can feel frustrated when someone we care about is blind to the source of their own suffering, but we don’t want to make them feel worse by lecturing them. When your friend decided to take a prescription to deal with stress related pain, perhaps they were ignorant of the snowball of side effects, or didn’t know they had a better choice. Lifestyle changes aren’t made overnight, and it will take the patience of a caring friend who can make a big difference in their life with small acts of kindness.

You can help someone in need by introducing them to Full Circle Yoga. We have a variety of mind-body classes that will help them breathe easier from the very first class, no matter where they started from.

~Kristen

Take your meditation into the World

Through the traditions of ancient India, the ritual basis for doing asana has been purification of the body.  No doubt about it, a healthy body is the temple for a clearer mind.  Now, Westerners may use the practice to strengthen and tone, but the intention of the practice is actually to prepare the body and mind for meditation, which is quite helpful in dealing with the pressures of daily life.

If your yoga practice leaves your body feeling great, but your mind is still easily distracted and disrupted, remember the tools you have been given:
Steady, deep breathing. (ujjayi breath)
Relaxed, steady gaze. (drishti)
Balance on the four corners of your feet. (padabandha)
Open your heart center. (love and compassion direct all thought)

And now a spontaneous poem.  (No joke, it really, truly was.)

The yoga mat is our class
While the world tests our resolve to stay the path.
Have no fear, the mind be clear.
Your inner voice knows what to do.
These simple tools will get you through.

Be well~

Kristen

Lessons from my Pregnant Belly

Regardless of the many challenges I've had growing up and finding my center, I've been relatively lucky to have a lean figure with no weight problems, not to mention a small frame-- ahem, and chest.  As a yoga teacher, I try to guide my larger framed students into poses that are appropriate for their bodies, but you really have to walk in someone's shoes (er, bra) to know how they feel on the mat. As a pregnant yoga teacher, I am learning a thing or two about working with the curves and bulges of a larger and more sensitive body.

Teaching large framed bodies have been a welcome challenge for me; but I know that I seek to understand how their body moves relying upon my spacial awareness and visual skills to determine appropriate adjustments and modifications for them.  But what makes certain poses more comfortable for their body are clearly different for me-- when I'm not pregnant.  Being pregnant has slowed me down and changed my practice to accommodate my curves in a big way. Especially this last month, and I have two more to go.  Because now I have a large belly and breasts where I didn't before.  And this changes everything.

For example, the stepping-forth transition in Sun Salutations from down dog to lunge is more like a bear crawl to get my leg forward.  And when I get the leg forth, it's off to the side of my shoulder, because even if I could get my knee around my belly, it would then be in my armpit squashing my chest. Up dog is more like a table with my head lifted.  Even child's pose in late pregnancy is more like preparation for lion pose with my hands on the floor near my knees, because I simply cannot get my head to the floor and blood pounds in my head whenever I lean over.

As a teacher, I have had to change the modelling of my poses based on what my body can do while simultaneously my guidance is geared toward the needs of the students.  A really good teacher can guide through language and rely less upon demonstration of the poses, so being pregnant has created a situation that nearly forced me to change how I teach, for the better. 

Being pregnant with this changing body of mine is narrowing my teaching schedule and the types of asanas I can do,

Why yoga can make you a better parent

     Have you ever felt disconnected from your children? Feel wrapped up in your own emotions?  Have difficulty understanding what your child’s behavior is telling you?  Whether you have a child who challenges your patience occasionally or challenges you up a wall on a regular basis, there is no doubt that parenting is hard work.  It takes a clear mind and a strong mental discipline to respond to your child in an appropriate way as they go about their business of becoming who they are. 

     Good parenting is rooted in awareness and consistent reactions to the behaviors that you want to shape. Sometimes we are simply unaware of our child because of our own emotions and mental clutter. Sometimes we are inappropriate or inconsistent in our reactions, and so we create confusion for them. Since our goal is to show love and bring out the positive qualities of our children, we must be mindful of our own behaviors and emotional reactions when we are with them.  

     Yoga, which means “to yoke” or “to unite” the body, mind, and spirit, is excellent practice for emotional and mental awareness.  Sharing the practice of yoga with an experienced teacher in a small class is a supportive system of healthfulness and mental calm that can be transferred easily into the home.  A consistent yoga practice is a training ground for diffusing and processing the negative emotional and mental clutter that prevents good parenting. It then it becomes so much easier to see when heavy emotions arise in your daily life and can determine how to best deal with them without negatively impacting yourself or your family.  

Getting better connected with yourself and your mental processes through yoga and mindfulness will result in better parenting. When your emotional and mental climate is easily observed from the inside, the results will be seen and felt from the outside.  Children, being natural absorbers of our emotional climate, will feel more secure with their boundaries when we can more easily observe our own. 

What yoga can do for your MEMORY

     Forgetting something lately but you can’t remember what it is?  This is a common symptom of overstressed, overworked brains.  Information overload from the endless distraction of computers, television, advertisements, magazines, and video games can actually make you more likely to forget simple things.

      When absorbed regularly and without limit, these types of distractions are like a mental junk food: we eat it to feel satisfied but it doesn’t do anything to truly nourish us AND it leaves us feeling tired, with a lesser mood.  Mental junk food, just like its edible counterpart, creates stress on the brain because it can’t digest it properly.  The effects of prolonged mental stress strain our lives, our relationships, our peace of mind, and our adrenal glands leaving us with mental clutter, stirring negative thoughts, and a feeling of being quite unsatisfied. 

     The keys to memory are the amount of attention we pay to doing something, the positive feelings derived from the action or the outcome, and the importance of the thing or event.  Yoga is effective for the three keys to memory since the first order of business in a yoga class is to notice the present moment by paying attention to our breathing.  Once our breath is steady and deep, we begin the physical stretches and poses, called asanas (ah-SA-nas), that bring us to how we feel in our bodies.  As we move deeper into attention to our own bodies, our minds relax and we notice more positive feelings arise with little or no commentary from our brains, just good feelings of spaciousness, lightness, and energy.  Getting used to noticing good feelings on the mat can hook us into the state of mindfulness that is needed toward things of importance in our daily lives. 

     Lastly, yoga is a form of gentle mental discipline to draw attention to one thing at a time. We can best learn and remember what we give proper attention to, what we derive positive feelings from and feel is important.  We think you are important, too. Come visit us.

Finding the Yoga-Culture in Yorba Linda

It seems that the coolness of a city is determined by the quantity (and quality) of its art galleries, tattoo shops,  retro clothing boutiques, and, yes, yoga studios. Where I live in Yorba Linda, California happens to have, um, none of those except two notable yoga studios on either end of the city.  And this is a new thing.  Yoga is now popping up in the suburban sprawl of north Orange County and I'm a proud owner of one of them- Full Circle Yoga: it's the little studio that CAN. 

Anyways, this city is rapt with youth sports and education, which is awesome.  Education, in general, is awesome.  But it seems that once the parents settle down and have kids, they have long forgotten about their own personal growth, their inner child, their playful, creative, and artsy self.  They attend PTA meetings and team meetings, Back to School Night, and awards ceremonies, busy, busy-- all for their kids. And I think, but I could be wrong here, that some of them used to do cool things to enrich their own lives.   I think having children just zaps you of your creative energy; as they ARE the greatest creations of our lives! But can't we find time to be ourselves as separate from our children?  Where did OUR inner child go off to? Where's OUR sense of self? Why do we have to wait until they move away to find ourselves?

So, I feel the culture in this city is geared toward parents sacrificing themselves until the children are grown, at which point they are far into a state of disrepair and dis-ease.  Can't we talk care of ourselves and the family at the same time? This is what the yoga culture is about-- taking care of ourselves in each day, finding peace in the home and within ourselves.  Because no manicure or hairstyle can cover up years of bodily and spiritual neglect. 

In addition to poetry, my blog here, and some amateur painting, yoga is my way of finding my true self.  Every day I come to the mat, I find kindred spirits who are also enjoying the journey of self-discovery.  They are out there. The yoga culture in Yorba Linda right now seems small to me (mainly because the majority of people who say they do yoga, are doing it at the gym, which just kind of ruins it) but I hope to find more right here in my city of Yorba Linda.

Getting the Most from Coming in Last

Some people just have the darnedest time learning from mistakes. Over and over again we suffer the outcomes of extemporaneous decisions and wonder why life has to be so hard.  Somewhere down the line,  life hands us a gift of time and perspective so that the "mistake" turns into a "life lesson," and further on, "a turning point."  How beautiful that our reactions and responses CAN change once our perspective on our experience has changed!  And still we wonder why we had to come around "the hard way" (and perhaps roll our eyes at others who learn --gasp-- by watching others!)

If you are one of those who spun chaos into existence just to have the experience of it (and marvelled at the ease, or boredom, of the lives of others) this parable is for you. It's called "The Worst Horse," a parable from a book called Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Suzuki Roshi.  And no, it really has nothing at all to do with horses, or being bad.  Distracted and chaotic we may be, but we are neither of those.
                                                               
It goes like this: "The best horse will run slow and fast, right and left, at the driver's will, before it sees the shadow of the whip; the second best will run as well as the first one does, just before the whip reaches its skin; the third one will run when it feels pain on its body; the fourth will run after the pain penetrates to the marrow of its bones. You can imagine how difficult it is for the fourth one to learn how to run!"


You see, the best race horse in the stable learns easily from its owner, is rarely if ever punished, for it can do no wrong.  It gives its best efforts every time, and can even anticipate its owner's commands.  How lovely for the owner to own such a horse!

The next best horses in the stable are the ones who can learn easily, but anticipate the consequences of punishment and pain to motivate it to action. There is little appreciation for anything achieved so easily.

The so-called "worst horse" in the stable is the one who has experienced first-hand the consequences of pain and punishment over and over.  They learn best by trial and error, pain and consequence.  They integrate the results of ineffective decisions and responses to the marrow of their bones. Learning anything deeply, then, is most precious when seen in relation to all the efforts made while doing it wrong.

Celebrate, then, your hard work, your mistakes, your ineffective methods! Imagine how precious your efforts will one day be.  Read the meaning behind The Worst Horse here: http://www.theworsthorse.com/why-v1.html   The Worst Horse blog is a really fun read, too.  Enjoy!

Dealing with tragedy and loss through yoga and meditation

I have lately become aware of friends and acquaintances who have experienced the death of close friends, family, neighbors, and pets.  This knowledge has led me to an awareness of what is so close, but has yet to storm my own life.  This will not always be the case, as death, loss, and grief are all a part of life.  This blog is my prayer and acknowledgement to those around me who have been affected in this way. ~KF  

Dealing with the loss of a loved one is one of the most stressful events in life.  Research shows that about 40% of bereaved people will suffer from some form of anxiety disorder in the first year after the death of a loved one. How much stress a person experiences when facing the loss of a loved one is at the top of the list of the most serious stresses to endure. The effects of losing a pet should not be minimized. Pets are often considered another member of the family, and therefore their loss is grieved as well.

But how to get back to "normal" life after such a life change has occurred? 
How do we move on in a way that allows us to express our feelings without losing control of our life? 
The practice of yoga brings us to what we are experiencing in the moment we experience it. Yoga has a way of opening the body to what is happening in the present moment, and when practiced regularly can be a routine that brings a sense of normality and peace into an otherwise chaotic and traumatic situation.  

Many yoga instructors have the experience and willingness to help students feel safe and supported when emotions release on the mat (called somatization, or emotional release), even in the middle of a class.  An alternative to group classes are custom practice routines (viniyoga) created by an experienced yoga instructor who can help students sustain a private practice at home, a park, or other natural setting.   

I have been fortunate to come across several resources that could be helpful to those grieving the death or loss of a significant person or pet in their loves.  My heart goes out to all of you, as I know yours will be with me when my time comes. Namaste' 

Healing from tragedy:  http://www.doctorpuff.com/view-tv-show.php?id=29  
Pam Pence, Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy (Tustin, CA): http://www.meetyourselfyogatherapy.com/
Article on grieving through yoga: http://www.yogajournal.com/wisdom/1966 

Breaking Down with Gym Yoga

We opened Full Circle Yoga in west Yorba Linda 3 months ago and we are so pleased to see the community coming forth to enjoy yoga, meditation, Pilates, and Gyrotonic training in our peaceful studio. We provide a mindfulness-based fitness practice in the yoga arts for each individual to explore at their own pace. We offer a variety of classes for beginners and more experienced practitioners by modifying poses to suit the needs of the individual. We think this is best done a smaller group to give proper attention to each student, their questions on the practice, and their progress. Full Circle Yoga provides the space for a new way of exploring health and fitness in this Yorba Linda community that lately seems drawn to the big gyms and big results, often with big consequences.
Yoga became trendy in the United States in the 1960's with the hippie movement. Even The Beatles have been credited with bringing yoga to the US through their acquaintance with Swami Vishnu-Devananda, the founder of Sivandana Yoga (http://people.howstuffworks.com/beatles-yoga.htm), but it didn't hit big in north Orange County until the late 1990's, and when it did, it showed up-- at the gym.

While the gym is a fine place to be introduced to yoga-like asanas for experienced athletic people, it shouldn't be confused with the more complete yoga practice as would be learned in a certified, insured yoga studio. Yoga is really not intended to be learned in a large group atmosphere like a gym where micro-injuries go unnoticed and little instruction is provided in proper breathing techniques or meditation. In most cases, gym "yoga" is merely a series of exercises equating to no more than calisthenics. It is this type of large group activity that breeds slow injury to the public, who are then cared for by a plethora of doctors and hospitals for the years that follow.

We aim to prevent this kind of suffering with mindfulness of body and it's limitations, while encouraging personal growth and depth of peace. Yoga can be adapted to every level of physical ability, including people with sight and hearing challenges ( http://www.yogamag.net/archives/1990/cmay90/yogadeaf.shtml).
Yoga has many health benefits, and yoga can be used to complement other sports or exercise activities, but yoga that is seen AS the exercise itself, with no specific guidance, misses the point entirely and can cause great injury.