Showing posts with label hot yoga nj. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hot yoga nj. Show all posts
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Ya gotta love ya-self!
Dear blog and those who read it,
Have I been busy? Have I forgotten what I started? Have I failed? No, I neglected to commit myself to writing and instead I think my 'blog posts' come in the form of my classes. Teaching is my space for sharing and my hot vinyasa class today was a reminder of how inspired I want to make the space I teach in.
Candles are lit, lights are down and I started class flipping thru my Yama and Niyama book (Deborah Adele). Ahimsa. Sounds insignificant to those who don't know sanskrit, but the meaning behind it is universal and constant. 'Non harming' or 'non violence'. Lately I have been challenged personally with having confidence and courage. What lies deep in that search, is quite simple. Self love is a HUGE part of Ahimsa, or non violence. 'Our ability to stay balanced and courageous has much to do with how we feel about ourselves." With out love for one self, how can we ever expect to love outwardly, but more important, feel joy and contentment in our own lives? "...(the way we) treat ourselves is in fact how we treat those around us." When we take care, nurture, respect and love ourselves, that light within us shines out and affects those around us. It's a beautiful contagious quality that we posses and it's powerful. Reflect on the idea: "If you are a task maker with yourself, others will feel your whip. If you are critical of yourself, others will feel your high expectations of themselves as well. If you are light hearted and forgiving with yourself, others will feel the ease and joy of being with you. If you find laughter and delight in yourself, others will be healed in your presence."
A friend of mine inspired me (although she may not know it) to get my blog up and running again. She is possibly one of the most joyful, energetic, non judgemental people I've met rescently and I'm guessing when I saw that she started a blog about the funny, ridiculous things she and her friends say, I wanted to rekindle my outlet for inspiring and sharing my ideas and processes with others.
Class evolved into a steady, breath conscious flow that continually reminded you not to judge, expect or pressure oneself to go where it didn't feel right. We explored with options to amp up your flow, while being mindful that whatever you were doing shoud simply be done with 100% intention and that contentment could be found within it.
Teaching tonight also gave me perspective that I may have lost- I've been a bit stubborn lately, and those feeling are surrounded by and insecurities and frustration. No part of me should want to feel those things, but it's like I can't help myself! How do you change it? I don't know exactly, but what I do know is that I need to remind myself of who I am, what my intentions are and that I am uniquely spectacular in every way.
"Our inability to love and accept all the pieces of ourselves creates ripples- tiny acts of violence- that have huge and lasting impacts on others. 'Perfect love casts out fear.' Where fear creates harm and violence, love creates expansion and nonviolence is woven with love, and love of others is woven with love of self; these cannot be separated." D.Adele
There is so much more to explore within Ahimsa, but for now those are my thoughts and I encourage you to explore the idea of Ahimsa in your life or yoga practice.
Light and love,
Kristine <3
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
"Mr. Hot Yoga: How Bikram Choudhury changed the way we exercise" by Clifford Pugh
Hey, you can't deny, Bikram practices his Satya ;)
I for one, am very grateful for his contribution to western culture. Bikram yoga, hot yoga, has changed my life forever. Enjoy this article or click on the link to see it's origins.
http://culturemap.com/newsdetail/10-22-10-mr-hot-yoga-how-bikram-choudhury-changed-the-way-we-exercise/
"Mr. Hot Yoga: How Bikram Choudhury changed the way we exercise"
By Clifford Pugh
At first, I thought I had happened into the wrong hotel room.
The man at the door was dressed in a cream-colored silk zoot suit and shirt with contrasting black collar and cuffs, jeweled cuff links, an American flag tie tack pinned to his swirly black tie, gold loafers and white fedora, with his longish black hair peeking out from the back.
This is the man who "invented" hot yoga?
I had expected a swami in flowing robes. Instead I found a man who looked like he was part of Michael Jackson's entourage.
"I'm in show biz. I entertain people," Bikram Choudhury said during an interview before presenting a lecture at Rice University. "It's a very boring subject. Why do you want to pay money to go to a hot room and torture yourself? I have to make it a little interesting."
In recent years, Birkram's regimen of hot yoga, incorporating two sets of 26 poses during a 90-minute session in temperatures approaching 112 degrees, has taken off. In 1995, when the first freestanding Bikram studio in Houston opened, it attracted only a handful of students. Now there are six sanctioned studios in Houston — 15 in Texas — and thousands of regulars. He has more than 500 approved studios in the United States and around the world.
"Before, only young kids used to come. Now (people in their) 50s and 60s come — doctors, engineers, lawyers, scientists," Bikram said.
Why has it become so popular?
"There are hundreds of reasons," he said. "But the shortest answer is, it works."
He cites a recent scientific study in which Bikram yoga appears to prevent bone loss in women and cites the number of loyal celebrity clients — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Ralph Sampson, Michelle Kwan, Serena and Venus Williams — who claim it prolonged their sports careers. His latest adherent, Kobe Bryant, recently took up Bikram yoga for the same reason, Choudhury said. The clientele ranges from Playboy playmates to the U.S. men's gymnastics team, who did Bikram yoga in Houston before the 2008 Olympics, said Mike Winter, owner of two Houston studios.
Feel the heat
Choudhury came up with the idea for hot yoga a long time ago — just how long ago, he won't say; his birth certificate indicates he's 64, but he intimates he's much older — when practicing yoga in his hometown of Calcutta.
"India is hot. We'd open the windows but my sweat felt cold, so I closed the windows and doors to my practice. Everyone complained to my guru."
He believes that doing the poses in heat stimulates and strengthen muscles, joints and organs.
Classes are standardized, so that a Bikram session is consistent in Houston or Honduras. "Wherever you go — man, woman, which language, young, old — it's exactly the same thing. It's like a Cadillac dealership. Anywhere in the world, you go to buy a Cadillac, and it's the same car. It's a product of Detroit. I'm a product of Beverly Hills," he said.
According to his autobiography, Choudhury's green card came courtesy of President Richard Nixon, whom he treated for advanced thrombophlebitis in his left leg while Nixon was in Hawaii. Soon afterwards, in 1973, Choudhury settled in Beverly Hills and, at the urging of Shirley MacLaine, opened a yoga school. At first, he didn't charge for his classes until MacLaine told, "If you don't charge money, people won't respect you. They'll think you're full of it."
He quickly cottoned to western ways. Although he was conflicted at first, telling MacLaine "If I ask for money, I'm a false yogi, a fraud," Choudhury now lives in a Beverly Hills mansion, owns a fleet of Rolls Royces and Bentleys and a closet of flashy designer clothes and Rolex watches. He sees nothing wrong in combining the material with the spiritual.
"Indian yogi's are old-fashioned, conservative, prejudicial people. You have to look like yogi, talk like yogi, have a beard like yogi. Now, I live in America. Indian people never have the opportunity to learn what the west and America has to offer to this world. (There's) nothing wrong with nice house, nice clothes, nice food, nice friend. But don't forget the other part. You live in the best country in the world, America, but you don't live long enough to enjoy it. So I give you good life, enjoy what you accomplished. It's a balance. That's the most important thing."
He has resisted western vices. He has never tasted alcohol or coffee and never smoked a cigarette. He says he only sleeps a few hours a night and eats only one daily meal — a piece of fish, chicken or meat or a small amount of egg curry rice — at night. "The best food in the world is no food," he said.
He does an advance class three days a week and practices on his own — doing as many as 1,500 crunches in the sauna in sweltering temperatures he says most people couldn't handle — on other days.
Each Bikram class is heavily choreographed from start to finish. While some have questioned the class length and wondered if it could be shortened, he says it must be done in its entirety to realize success.
"It's a melody. If you drop one key, it's not the same," he said.
His manner is mild, but during teacher training sessions, known as "Bikram boot camp," Choudhury is sometimes anything but Zen-like. He has been known to loudly berate teachers and call them out when instructions are not up to his standards.
"I'll do anything to make it work. I'm not an easygoing man," he said.
Answers critics
Choudhury scoffs at Southern Baptist Seminary president Albert Mohler's recent pronouncements that Christians should not practice yoga because it has a spiritual aspect meant to connect with the divine.
"What he said is normal but the way he said it is totally ignorant," Choudhury said "If you do yoga, you have good health. It's a preventative medicine."
And, he maintains, no one in the western world understands spirituality, anyway.
"So far in my life, no western man, including the Pope, can answer this question: 'In one sentence, what is spiritualism?' So when people talk about spirit in the western world, we Indians laugh because if people can't learn A,B,C,D, how can you explain Shakespeare, Byron, Shelley and Keates?"
And he shrugs off criticisms that he copyrighted his 26-posture sequence, even though yoga is a 5,000-year-old tradition that cannot be owned, to create the "McDonald's of yoga."
"Nothing bothers me," he replied. "I'm bullet proof, waterproof, wind proof, money proof, sex proof, emotion proof, stress proof, strength proof."
<3 k.deer
http://www.kdeerhauteyogawear.com/
I for one, am very grateful for his contribution to western culture. Bikram yoga, hot yoga, has changed my life forever. Enjoy this article or click on the link to see it's origins.
http://culturemap.com/newsdetail/10-22-10-mr-hot-yoga-how-bikram-choudhury-changed-the-way-we-exercise/
"Mr. Hot Yoga: How Bikram Choudhury changed the way we exercise"
By Clifford Pugh
At first, I thought I had happened into the wrong hotel room.
The man at the door was dressed in a cream-colored silk zoot suit and shirt with contrasting black collar and cuffs, jeweled cuff links, an American flag tie tack pinned to his swirly black tie, gold loafers and white fedora, with his longish black hair peeking out from the back.
This is the man who "invented" hot yoga?
I had expected a swami in flowing robes. Instead I found a man who looked like he was part of Michael Jackson's entourage.
"I'm in show biz. I entertain people," Bikram Choudhury said during an interview before presenting a lecture at Rice University. "It's a very boring subject. Why do you want to pay money to go to a hot room and torture yourself? I have to make it a little interesting."
In recent years, Birkram's regimen of hot yoga, incorporating two sets of 26 poses during a 90-minute session in temperatures approaching 112 degrees, has taken off. In 1995, when the first freestanding Bikram studio in Houston opened, it attracted only a handful of students. Now there are six sanctioned studios in Houston — 15 in Texas — and thousands of regulars. He has more than 500 approved studios in the United States and around the world.
"Before, only young kids used to come. Now (people in their) 50s and 60s come — doctors, engineers, lawyers, scientists," Bikram said.
Why has it become so popular?
"There are hundreds of reasons," he said. "But the shortest answer is, it works."
He cites a recent scientific study in which Bikram yoga appears to prevent bone loss in women and cites the number of loyal celebrity clients — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Ralph Sampson, Michelle Kwan, Serena and Venus Williams — who claim it prolonged their sports careers. His latest adherent, Kobe Bryant, recently took up Bikram yoga for the same reason, Choudhury said. The clientele ranges from Playboy playmates to the U.S. men's gymnastics team, who did Bikram yoga in Houston before the 2008 Olympics, said Mike Winter, owner of two Houston studios.
Feel the heat
Choudhury came up with the idea for hot yoga a long time ago — just how long ago, he won't say; his birth certificate indicates he's 64, but he intimates he's much older — when practicing yoga in his hometown of Calcutta.
"India is hot. We'd open the windows but my sweat felt cold, so I closed the windows and doors to my practice. Everyone complained to my guru."
He believes that doing the poses in heat stimulates and strengthen muscles, joints and organs.
Classes are standardized, so that a Bikram session is consistent in Houston or Honduras. "Wherever you go — man, woman, which language, young, old — it's exactly the same thing. It's like a Cadillac dealership. Anywhere in the world, you go to buy a Cadillac, and it's the same car. It's a product of Detroit. I'm a product of Beverly Hills," he said.
According to his autobiography, Choudhury's green card came courtesy of President Richard Nixon, whom he treated for advanced thrombophlebitis in his left leg while Nixon was in Hawaii. Soon afterwards, in 1973, Choudhury settled in Beverly Hills and, at the urging of Shirley MacLaine, opened a yoga school. At first, he didn't charge for his classes until MacLaine told, "If you don't charge money, people won't respect you. They'll think you're full of it."
He quickly cottoned to western ways. Although he was conflicted at first, telling MacLaine "If I ask for money, I'm a false yogi, a fraud," Choudhury now lives in a Beverly Hills mansion, owns a fleet of Rolls Royces and Bentleys and a closet of flashy designer clothes and Rolex watches. He sees nothing wrong in combining the material with the spiritual.
"Indian yogi's are old-fashioned, conservative, prejudicial people. You have to look like yogi, talk like yogi, have a beard like yogi. Now, I live in America. Indian people never have the opportunity to learn what the west and America has to offer to this world. (There's) nothing wrong with nice house, nice clothes, nice food, nice friend. But don't forget the other part. You live in the best country in the world, America, but you don't live long enough to enjoy it. So I give you good life, enjoy what you accomplished. It's a balance. That's the most important thing."
He has resisted western vices. He has never tasted alcohol or coffee and never smoked a cigarette. He says he only sleeps a few hours a night and eats only one daily meal — a piece of fish, chicken or meat or a small amount of egg curry rice — at night. "The best food in the world is no food," he said.
He does an advance class three days a week and practices on his own — doing as many as 1,500 crunches in the sauna in sweltering temperatures he says most people couldn't handle — on other days.
Each Bikram class is heavily choreographed from start to finish. While some have questioned the class length and wondered if it could be shortened, he says it must be done in its entirety to realize success.
"It's a melody. If you drop one key, it's not the same," he said.
His manner is mild, but during teacher training sessions, known as "Bikram boot camp," Choudhury is sometimes anything but Zen-like. He has been known to loudly berate teachers and call them out when instructions are not up to his standards.
"I'll do anything to make it work. I'm not an easygoing man," he said.
Answers critics
Choudhury scoffs at Southern Baptist Seminary president Albert Mohler's recent pronouncements that Christians should not practice yoga because it has a spiritual aspect meant to connect with the divine.
"What he said is normal but the way he said it is totally ignorant," Choudhury said "If you do yoga, you have good health. It's a preventative medicine."
And, he maintains, no one in the western world understands spirituality, anyway.
"So far in my life, no western man, including the Pope, can answer this question: 'In one sentence, what is spiritualism?' So when people talk about spirit in the western world, we Indians laugh because if people can't learn A,B,C,D, how can you explain Shakespeare, Byron, Shelley and Keates?"
And he shrugs off criticisms that he copyrighted his 26-posture sequence, even though yoga is a 5,000-year-old tradition that cannot be owned, to create the "McDonald's of yoga."
"Nothing bothers me," he replied. "I'm bullet proof, waterproof, wind proof, money proof, sex proof, emotion proof, stress proof, strength proof."
<3 k.deer
http://www.kdeerhauteyogawear.com/
Sunday, November 28, 2010
New York Times- 'Who owns yoga?'
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/nyregion/28yoga.html
Hindu Group Stirs a Debate Over Yoga’s Soul
A small foundation has generated buzz with a campaign asserting that “Hinduism has lost control of the brand.”
So interesting!!! Read this article and ask yourself, what do you associate with yoga? Religion? Exercise? Spirituality? Who owns it? Is it RIGHT for someone to have ownership?
<3 k.deer
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Santosha
Contentment.
"Santosha invites us into contentment by taking refuge in a calm center, opening our hearts in gratitude for what we do have, and practicing the paradox of 'not seeking' ".-Deborah Adele.
I think understanding how contentment allows us to feel whole and complete, makes all the difference in how we think and process the world around us. When we feel like we don't have enough or aren't enough of a particular quality, that ultimately means we set some serious EXPECTATIONS on ourselves. It's important to have goals, standards and dreams. But setting expectations of yourself that only goddesses and gods can reach, can only lead to disappointment. Contentment for me, is taking away those heaven reaching expectations and redirecting my FOCUS to what I have within that will provide me with the ability to succeed and be happy.
LET GO of expectations and BE CONTENT with who you are and what you have in the PRESENT MOMENT. And remember, you are exactly who and where you are supposed to be right now.
<3 k.deer
http://www.kdeerhauteyogawear.com/
"Santosha invites us into contentment by taking refuge in a calm center, opening our hearts in gratitude for what we do have, and practicing the paradox of 'not seeking' ".-Deborah Adele.
I think understanding how contentment allows us to feel whole and complete, makes all the difference in how we think and process the world around us. When we feel like we don't have enough or aren't enough of a particular quality, that ultimately means we set some serious EXPECTATIONS on ourselves. It's important to have goals, standards and dreams. But setting expectations of yourself that only goddesses and gods can reach, can only lead to disappointment. Contentment for me, is taking away those heaven reaching expectations and redirecting my FOCUS to what I have within that will provide me with the ability to succeed and be happy.
LET GO of expectations and BE CONTENT with who you are and what you have in the PRESENT MOMENT. And remember, you are exactly who and where you are supposed to be right now.
<3 k.deer
http://www.kdeerhauteyogawear.com/
Thursday, November 25, 2010
20% off K.Deer Haute Yoga Wear for HOT YOGA
Get haute and sweaty, we've got you covered! Contemporary apparel designed for the demands of the HOT YOGA room!
SHOP NOW through SATURDAY- TAKE 20% off at checkout using coupon code: THANKFUL20.
http://www.kdeerhauteyogawear.com/ will link you to etsy to purchase!
Or go directly to www.etsy.com/shop/kmdeer !
Remember to enter code, THANKFUL20 at checkout for 20% your order! If you are purchasing multiple items, message me and I will consolidate your shipping costs!!
FREE SHIPPING on orders over $100 !!!! <3
Spread the love! Pick up stocking stuffers for your favorite yogis! Add a headband to a gift certificate to make a cute HOT YOGA present!
ALSO!!! Custom orders are 20% off! Do you have a print in mind? Solid colors? Choose your size and I will get it to you within a week! Message me on etsy.com or thorugh the k.deer website!
Headbands and Thongs also make great gifts for runners, cyclists, gym buffs and teens!!
<3 Order now through Saturday and get 20% off with coupon code THANKFUL20 !!!!
<3 k.deer
SHOP NOW through SATURDAY- TAKE 20% off at checkout using coupon code: THANKFUL20.
http://www.kdeerhauteyogawear.com/ will link you to etsy to purchase!
Or go directly to www.etsy.com/shop/kmdeer !
Remember to enter code, THANKFUL20 at checkout for 20% your order! If you are purchasing multiple items, message me and I will consolidate your shipping costs!!
FREE SHIPPING on orders over $100 !!!! <3
Spread the love! Pick up stocking stuffers for your favorite yogis! Add a headband to a gift certificate to make a cute HOT YOGA present!
ALSO!!! Custom orders are 20% off! Do you have a print in mind? Solid colors? Choose your size and I will get it to you within a week! Message me on etsy.com or thorugh the k.deer website!
Headbands and Thongs also make great gifts for runners, cyclists, gym buffs and teens!!
<3 Order now through Saturday and get 20% off with coupon code THANKFUL20 !!!!
<3 k.deer
Monday, November 22, 2010
Yoga Journal- Yoga changes our brain chemistry
Great blog post from Yoga Journal- I personally can't wait for the day when Western medicine has their 'Ah HAH' moment about yoga- IT HEALS!!!! It doesn't just MASK the problems like medicines do! As it was long ago and still today in some countries, health professionals or wise gurus would 'prescribe' various postures in order to treat diseases and health problems. Sometimes I get the feeling 'health care' isn't caring much for your health as it is for wallets of those in charge of it. We can start a revolution here- point out to your doctor how yoga has changed your life. Plant the seed. As nice as it is not having insurance companies and the medical field sniffing around our yoga studios to take a piece of the pie, there may be an opportunity to get their support and eventually have yoga prescribed for your health, well being and therepy needs.
http://blogs.yogajournal.com/yogabuzz/2010/11/new-research-says-yoga-changes-brain-chemistry.html
Yogis have known for centuries that a yoga practice makes us feel calm and centered. But science is finally catching up with what we've all experienced on the mat and the cushion: yoga changes our brain chemistry, which in turn helps improve mood and decrease anxiety.
A new study in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary medicine reports that yoga triggers the release of the brain chemical gamma-aminobutyric acid, or GABA, a chemical in the brain that helps to regulate nerve activity.
The findings establish a new link between yoga, higher levels of GABA, and improved mood.
The study, led by researchers at the Boston University School of Medicine (the lead researcher is a yogi!), brings us one step closer toward harnessing yoga's power of prevention and relaxation. Who knows: maybe this can lead to a wider acceptance of yoga in the medical community as a tool to help people struggling with anxiety and depression. Prescription for yoga, anyone?
<3 k.deer
http://www.kdeerhauteyogawear.com/
http://blogs.yogajournal.com/yogabuzz/2010/11/new-research-says-yoga-changes-brain-chemistry.html
Yogis have known for centuries that a yoga practice makes us feel calm and centered. But science is finally catching up with what we've all experienced on the mat and the cushion: yoga changes our brain chemistry, which in turn helps improve mood and decrease anxiety.
A new study in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary medicine reports that yoga triggers the release of the brain chemical gamma-aminobutyric acid, or GABA, a chemical in the brain that helps to regulate nerve activity.
The findings establish a new link between yoga, higher levels of GABA, and improved mood.
The study, led by researchers at the Boston University School of Medicine (the lead researcher is a yogi!), brings us one step closer toward harnessing yoga's power of prevention and relaxation. Who knows: maybe this can lead to a wider acceptance of yoga in the medical community as a tool to help people struggling with anxiety and depression. Prescription for yoga, anyone?
<3 k.deer
http://www.kdeerhauteyogawear.com/
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Let Go -- All Together Now
I taught a Hot Vinyasa flow class this afternoon and used a simple idea to repeat throughout the class... you guessed it... LET GO...
It was incredible. I hope and I think I truly felt that every person in that class had something to respond with when asked, "What do you need to let go of? What is holding you back?" Inhale, open the heart, exhale, let go. I reminded students to FEEL the postures and when tensions came up, to LET GO of the feelings that were inhibiting the change to occur. This theme cultivated an energy I've never felt before. By the end of class, it was like all the smoke cleared... the world had lifted off everyones shoulders in some capacity.. we all felt a bit freer. I am SO THANKFUL that I had the opportunity to share that experience and I will always take the lesson my class TAUGHT ME forever..
This quick article from Yoga Journal is a statement to the power of a community class- a collective effort to help one another without even realizing it. We lift each other up in yoga. We share a common goal. So get together and bring peace to your world and the world around you :-)
Daily Insight -- All Together Now
<3 k.deer http://www.kdeerhauteyogawear.com/
It was incredible. I hope and I think I truly felt that every person in that class had something to respond with when asked, "What do you need to let go of? What is holding you back?" Inhale, open the heart, exhale, let go. I reminded students to FEEL the postures and when tensions came up, to LET GO of the feelings that were inhibiting the change to occur. This theme cultivated an energy I've never felt before. By the end of class, it was like all the smoke cleared... the world had lifted off everyones shoulders in some capacity.. we all felt a bit freer. I am SO THANKFUL that I had the opportunity to share that experience and I will always take the lesson my class TAUGHT ME forever..
This quick article from Yoga Journal is a statement to the power of a community class- a collective effort to help one another without even realizing it. We lift each other up in yoga. We share a common goal. So get together and bring peace to your world and the world around you :-)
Daily Insight -- All Together Now
<3 k.deer http://www.kdeerhauteyogawear.com/
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