Blog | Yoga Sublime

Taking a Blogging Break

2008-12-18T17:59:00.002-05:00

I am taking an indefinite break from updating this blog. Please check www.YogaSublime.com to keep up with my latest news or to say hi! If you leave me a note on this blog, I will receive it.

Namaste,
Catherine

Teaching at YogaOne

2008-10-23T06:15:00.002-05:00

I'm excited to announce that I'll be teaching Forrest-inspired vinyasa at Albina and Roger Rippy's YogaOne Studio in Midtown. My classes are on Mondays 11:45-12:45 (60 minutes) and Saturdays 11:45-1:15 (90 minutes). Both classes will be vigorous and sweaty (not "hot yoga") for all, regardless of student level. It is recommended that students for these Monday and Saturday classes have asana experience. Complete beginners who have never done yoga should attend the more basic classes at YogaOne before coming to my classes. If it's not possible for you to attend the more basic classes, then contact me to set up 15-20 minute intro lesson. I'll show you basic moves and modifications necessary for your abilities.

I'm happy to answer any questions you might have. My contact information is on my website. See you in class!

Long Overdue Update

2008-10-15T03:49:00.007-05:00

It's been a month and a half since I've moved from Boston to Texas. I miss Boston so much and hope that all my friends and students are doing well up there. I'd love to hear from all of you to know what's happening in your lives and your yoga. So much great yoga in Boston! To my new friends and students down here in Houston - thank you for such a warm welcome!!! I'm having such fun getting to know all of you. Thank you for your dedication and diligence on the mat :)

Yoga in Houston is great. When I'm not teaching I try my best to take Ann Hyde's and Robert Boustany's classes. They are amazing teachers. I had two very awesome "yoga firsts" (as I like to call it) in their classes recently. A couple weeks ago, I interlocked my hands in Tittibhasana B (Standing Tortoise) for the first time in my life. And just this past weekend, with Ann's encouragement, I had the courage to do Shin Pillar full-on. (I usually flake out in Shin Pillar because it's so darn intense.) Yoga firsts exhilarate me and put me in a state of pure happiness. Yoga firsts remind me that anything is attainable both on and off the mat.

More good news is that I'm participating in the Forrest Yoga Mentorship Program with Ann Hyde, a Forrest Yoga Mentor Teacher. It is a year-long program that starts this November. I'm so excited to be learning more and going deeper as both a yoga student as well as yoga teacher!

I can't wait to see what new adventures and experiences await me! I'll be sure to keep updating this blog, so check back again!

Emerging from the Forrest and Going to Texas

2008-08-15T13:06:00.010-05:00

The Forrest Yoga Teacher Training was one of the best things I've ever done for myself. To my surprise, much of the training had more to do with personal growth and evolution. And of course, my teaching skills have improved greatly, thanks to Ana Forrest, Anna North, Lori O'Doherty, and ALL of my fellow teacher trainees. Each and every single one of these people taught me how to refine my awareness in class and connect more with my students. Whether you decide to teach yoga or not, I think you should seriously consider participating in this month-long teacher training program. Ana Forrest is coming back (by popular demand) to conduct another Boston teacher training in April 2009. Sign up through Back Bay Yoga!

Onto other news...

I am both sad and excited to announce that, on August 31, my husband and I will be moving from Boston to Houston, Texas. I have emailed a farewell message to all the students on my mailing list. If you did not receive a message from me, please email me through my website to let me know. I regret not being able to address each of you personally as life has been happening at lightening speed for me. These past three and half years in Boston have proved to be a phenomenal life experience for me. Each and every one of you holds a sacred place in my heart. I will cherish all that you have taught me in our time together. I hope that I will see all of you in class during these next two weeks. Below is my teaching schedule until my Aug 31st departure:

Mondays: UClub 930 am, EQ 1 pm, Central Y 7 pm
Tuesdays: Camb Y 7 and 8 am, South Boston Yoga 730 pm
Thursdays: Camb Y 7 and 8 am, ~~South Boston Yoga 4 pm, Central Y 730 pm~~ (teaching on August 21st but not teaching on August 28th)
Saturdays: ~~Camb Y 930 am~~ (teaching on August 23rd but not teaching on August 30th)

Namaste,
Catherine

Bad karma: When yoga harms rather than heals (by Jennifer Wolff Perrine)

2008-07-15T15:13:00.004-05:00

There is an interesting article (in SELF magazine?) about "inexperienced teachers and overeager students behind rise in yoga injuries." Here's the link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25400799/ Since MSNBC most likely will archive this article after a while, I decided to copy and paste it below. And here it goes...

BAD KARMA: WHEN YOGA HARMS RATHER THAN HEALS
By: Jennifer Wolff Perrine

I remember only one pose from my first yoga class seven years ago: a modified seated forward bend known in Sanskrit as Paschimottanasana. I sat on a mat with my legs slightly bent in front of me, my arms wrapped beneath my thighs as my forehead reached toward my toes. It was about an hour into class, and my body felt like a stuck door slowly easing open.

A warm current of something — call it blood, call it chi — coursed from shoulder to shoulder. I felt the muscles unfurling from my spine; then, in the other direction, the vertebrae unsticking from each other — click, click, click. It was a sensation of freedom and release I remember as vividly as the first time my husband touched me. This was how I was supposed to feel.

Years of hunching over my computer had left me stiff, almost breakable. One false move — getting out of bed too quickly, tying my shoe — could lay me flat on a heating pad for days. Friends and family commented that my shoulders were rounding, my back curving, my chin protruding beyond my chest. Sometimes I'd see little old ladies hobbled over canes, their tiny bodies twisted and contorted, and I'd wonder, Will that be me?

Now I knew it wouldn't. After a series of yoga classes, I gradually began to stand up straighter and move through the world more easily without hurting myself. If the hunch in my back was a measure of how hard I was working at my job, my new upright alignment served as testament to how hard I was working on myself. Yoga had become my salvation.

Until it became my damnation.

In 2005, I was at my first yoga class in quite a while, as my busy life had been getting in the way of my routine. I took a class open to all levels; after all those years of doing yoga, I didn't think to reenter with a beginner class that took things more slowly. That would have felt like a demotion of sorts, as if I'd been put back a grade in the middle of the school year.

The class went fine until we neared the end. The teacher directed us into Plow pose (Halasana): on your back, balancing hips over shoulders while your toes touch the floor behind your head. If done properly, Plow pose has the power to straighten your shoulders and lengthen your neck; at least, that's what it always felt like to me. I remember exalting in the tension release across my upper body, the liberation of muscle from bone that through my practice I had grown to depend on, almost addictively.

Then I felt the throbbing. It started at the base of my skull, like a slow burn crackling down my neck. Within a week, I couldn't toss a tennis ball before a serve or pick up one of my baby cousins. My husband had to carry my weekend bag. After a few weeks, I went to a sports medicine specialist to see what I'd done to myself. We looked at my MRI together. “This mass right here is a bulging disk. It's pinching your nerve, which is why you're having pain down to your fingers,” said Jordan Metzl, M.D., a sports medicine physician at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. That Plow pose was likely to blame. “Your disk could have been bulging before,” Dr. Metzl said, noting that premature osteoarthritis (something I'd had no idea I had) was weakening my neck and spine. “But hyperextending your neck while putting weight on it most likely made it bulge even more, which pinched your nerve.”

Several weeks of physical therapy later, my arm was functioning normally and painlessly. Still, I felt disillusioned. How could my beloved yoga have turned on me?

As it happens, I'm not the only one feeling done in by my practice: Nearly 4,500 people ended up in the emergency room after yoga injuries in 2006, slightly fewer than the year before but still up 18 percent since 2004, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (which tracks sports injuries even when they don't include equipment). Most often, the damage includes strained muscles, rotator cuff tears in the shoulders, exacerbated carpal tunnel syndrome in the wrists, torn cartilage in the knees, and lower-back and neck injuries such as herniated disks.

“In my practice, I've seen a significant increase in yoga injuries in the past five years,” says orthopedic surgeon Jeffrey Halbrecht, M.D., medical director for the Institute for Arthroscopy and Sports Medicine in San Francisco and a specialist in knee and hip problems. And it's not only those in the recent wave of newbies who are getting hurt, Dr. Halbrecht says: “I've treated more experienced yogis than rookies.”

Overall, yoga has far more potential to heal than to hurt: Studies suggest it can help relieve chronic lower-back pain, depression and anxiety. And students tend to think of yoga as gentle and healing, even when done rigorously. But the fact is that the most basic of yoga poses — as with dance, gymnastics or any type of physical activity that requires strength and flexibility — call for a certain amount of skill and training to do properly.

And when strength isn't a necessity, proper alignment is; sometimes the most benign-seeming poses, or asanas, can cause injury if hands, arms or legs are placed incorrectly. Devotees are even more vulnerable if they go through poses more quickly than their body can handle or push themselves too hard in an effort to keep up with the teacher or compete with other students.

“Yoga is marketed as such an innocuous thing,” says Loren Fishman, M.D., assistant clinical professor of rehabilitation medicine at Columbia University in New York City. “But without care, injuries can absolutely happen.”

‘Pushing myself to the edge’
Susan Eaton, a 45-year-old physical therapist in San Francisco, has always been athletic. She runs, hikes and lifts weights, and started doing yoga in 2000. Even though she knew better than to push her body into an asana that didn't feel right, there was a part of her that wanted the challenge. “I was very competitive with myself,” she says. “I felt that if this is how the teacher presents a pose, then this is how I want to perform it.”

Eaton's spirited approach to yoga served her well for the two years she practiced two or three times a week. But toward the end of a class she took in December 2002, something went wrong.

The class was in Fish pose, a position that involves the student lying on her back, her spine arched, her chest up and open, the top of her head resting on her mat. In a modified version, the student supports herself with her elbows on the floor; in the advanced incarnation that Eaton did, more weight is borne by the head and neck. “It's a hyperextended neck pose that as a physical therapist I later questioned,” Eaton recalls. “I had done this pose before, but this time I was uneasy, as though I knew I might be pushing myself to the edge.”

Over the next three days, Eaton experienced intense head, neck and jaw pain. Then, on the fourth night, she woke up alone in the middle of the night to flashing lights and a popping sound in her head. She slipped out of bed and fell to the floor, the entire right side of her body limp — a symptom she recognized as a sign of a stroke. “I knew that if I let myself pass out, I'd probably die because no one would have found me until I didn't show up for work,” she says. She dragged her body to the phone to dial 911. It took five tries before she succeeded.

Rushed to a nearby emergency room, Eaton slipped between cognition and confusion, alert and focused one minute and unable to remember her daughter's name the next. She had torn her left carotid, one of the two arteries located in the front of the neck that supply the head with blood; a clot had then formed and traveled to her brain. And her doctors agreed that the likely cause of the tear was yoga.

Such a thing is unusual but not impossible. In 2001, The New England Journal of Medicine published an article that cites yoga as one of the many possible causes for arterial dissection in susceptible patients. “It's not likely, but if you extend your neck and look toward the sky, you can tear one of the carotid artery's layers,” says Eaton's neurologist, Wade S. Smith, M.D., director of the Neurovascular Service at the University of California at San Francisco. “These things can happen spontaneously, and you don't want to falsely accuse a form of exercise. But in this case, it makes sense that yoga was involved in the tear because they were so closely coupled in time.” Dr. Smith adds that Eaton tested negative for tissue disorders that might have predisposed her to the event.

Eaton was put on blood thinners to prevent clotting and remained in the hospital for three days. It was three months before she could return to work full time and ease into exercising again. Today, she is fully recovered, although she still sometimes has problems recalling words and numbers that should be familiar. “It was an accident,” Eaton says. But one she learned from. “I adore yoga, but you have to be mindful when doing these things.”

Not all teachers emphasize this mindfulness, the idea that students need to know their body's limits and heed the signals that it's time to cool it. The concept can be understandably hard to grasp for many women, who are rewarded for a can-do attitude in every aspect of their life. Dr. Fishman recently conducted a worldwide survey of more than 33,000 yoga teachers and therapists to investigate the most common injuries and their causes. He found that among the major reasons for injuries are inexperienced teachers and “egotistical,” competitive students who push themselves too hard.

“The ambitions of the yoga student have changed,” Dr. Fishman says. Many students come looking for a workout akin to aerobics or sports, with only ancillary meditative benefits. But, explains Terri Kennedy, founder of Ta Yoga House in New York City, “yoga is about intention, attention and breath.” In soccer, the mere intent to get the ball in the net won't score you points. In yoga, your movement toward, say, touching your toes is what matters, not whether you are able to wrench your body into that position. “If you keep the breath steady, then you can begin to steady the mind,” adds Kennedy, chairwoman of the board of Yoga Alliance, a national organization that sets standards for yoga teaching. “That's the essence of the practice. It's not about a perfect-looking posture.”

In the tradition set forth roughly 5,000 years ago in ancient India, yoga instruction was one-on-one and individually tailored, the passage of a sacred discipline from guru to student. Today, of course, classes are a group affair — and packed; 15.8 million Americans practice yoga, according to Yoga Journal. More than 2 million get instruction at the gym; many experts feel students who learn at a specialized yoga studio are more likely to be taught the subtleties that can head off injury. “Some of today's yoga teachers have been recruited from the vast army of the unemployed, the kind of people who used to become waiters and waitresses while figuring out what to do with the rest of their life,” says Dr. Fishman, who was once an expert witness in the lawsuit of a yogi who could no longer walk up stairs after she tore the cartilage in her knee doing a Hero pose. “That includes people who are eager to do the right thing but don't have the anatomical knowledge, physiological understanding, caring attitude and experience to be able to teach.”

No certification or specific training is required before a person is allowed to teach yoga. Yoga Alliance recommends teachers get a bare minimum of 200 hours of training and has built a registry of teachers and schools that meet its standards. But participation is voluntary; teachers can just as easily get certified in weekend or online courses. “If you are a Spinning teacher and you want to tack on yoga, then you can take a two-day training,” Kennedy says. “You may think you are qualified, but that has its challenges.”

These quickie courses teach poses but not necessarily the nuances of proper alignment nor the ideal, noncompetitive mind-set. And they likely won't train teachers how to suss out previous injuries and medical problems that yoga could worsen. A preexisting arterial tear, often signaled by dizziness and neck pain, puts you at risk for a stroke; leg pain could warn that a bulging disk in the back is putting pressure on your sciatic nerve. If you have undiagnosed glaucoma, you can go blind doing headstands or shoulder stands.

‘It was yoga that hurt me’
Shula Sarner, a 37-year-old medical writer in New York City, thought yoga would be a “peaceful and gentle” complement to her regimen, which includes weight lifting, kickboxing and marathon running. A former aerobics instructor — and one with a history of rotator cuff injury — Sarner made a point of telling the teacher it was her first class. She didn't mention and wasn't asked about the old injury, which she considered healed.

When the class did headstands, the teacher told Sarner she didn't have to do them. But when a series of Sun Salutations, including multiple Downward Dogs, began to bother her arm, he didn't notice her stopping and stretching. Sarner carried on through the end of the class; her play-through-the-pain attitude had served her well in other activities. “There were people around me of all shapes and sizes, and I figured if they could do it, I should be able to,” she says.

Within a few hours of class, Sarner's left arm was incapacitated, her rotator cuff reinjured. All those sports she thought yoga might complement were off-limits for months. “Here I was, this competitive athlete, and it was yoga that hurt me,” Sarner laments. “If I had to do it again, with hindsight, I'd have stopped doing the poses that bothered me.”

Students need to be wary of a teacher who conveys, either explicitly or through implication, that anyone can do every pose if she only tries. “Many of these positions aren't relevant to every body,” says Gary Kraftsow, author of “Yoga for Transformation” (Penguin). Ashtanga, the popular fast-paced discipline often called power yoga, was originally designed to develop children's flexibility and joint strength, Kraftsow says. Although that doesn't mean a 40-year-old can't build the strength to do it, at that pace, even basic poses such as Downward Dog and Cobra pose will put much more of a strain on her joints than it would on a child's.

Elena Brower, founder of the Virayoga studio in New York City, has made regular trips to other studios to observe teaching styles. “I literally watched injuries happen,” Brower says. “I saw hands that were turned in too far and sinking shoulders just begging for rotator cuff or wrist injuries. Over time, the tiniest misalignment of even a quarter inch can make the difference between something that is injurious and something that is healing.” Alyssa Cooper, a 36-year-old television producer in New York City, put so much stress on her wrist in yoga classes that she developed a painful ganglion cyst (a liquid-filled pouch). A hand surgeon wanted to aspirate it, but a yoga teacher had another idea: better alignment. Five private sessions later, Cooper had learned how to put less pressure on her wrist as well as on an ankle she had injured skiing. The cyst went away on its own. “It's kind of amazing that a few adjustments helped turn something that was hurting me into something that healed me,” she says.

Even without private lessons, it's possible to reap the benefits of yoga and avoid limping off your mat. Look for small classes, taught by an instructor registered with Yoga Alliance. Make sure you inform the instructor of any physical problems you have, and ask her for the modified versions of a pose. A good teacher, Kennedy says, will “teach in stages,” explaining a posture bit by bit, so a student can stop when she is at her personal limit. “If a teacher says, ‘Let's all get into a headstand now,’ a student might feel bad if she can't do it. Instead, I say, ‘Let me teach you how to get in a Dolphin’ ” — which involves the same arm positioning. “I tell them, you can remain right there, if that's what feels right for you today.” Most important, Kennedy says, is to listen to your body. If you find yourself holding your breath in a pose, that's a simple sign you should ease up.

After her stroke, Susan Eaton avoided practicing yoga for roughly a year. “I felt betrayed by yoga, and the hardest thing was to return to my mat,” she says. Rest and medication had helped heal her body. But now she needed to face her fears and regain her confidence.

She did so by becoming a teacher herself — the right way — training for 500 hours over the course of a year and a half with a Yoga Alliance-registered program. “I modify poses like headstands to avoid compression of the spine and hyperextension of the neck,” she says. “And even in poses that don't affect my neck, I don't push anymore. I don't go to that place of uneasiness, and that's what I teach my students. Yoga is about practicing mindfully in your own body — and your body is different from everyone else's.”

(Copyright © 2007 CondéNet. All rights reserved.)

I'm back from Mexico!

2008-07-07T16:06:00.005-05:00

Vacation was fun, but it's good to be home again! I won't be teaching my full schedule for the next couple weeks as I'll be traveling again and preparing for my upcoming teacher training. Below is list of classes I'll be teaching from now until July 17th.

Cambridge YMCA, Tuesday and Thursday, 7 and 8 am: 7/8, 7/10, 7/15, 7/17
Cambridge YMCA, Saturday, 9:30 am: 7/12
South Boston Yoga, Tuesday 7:30 pm, Thursday 4 pm: 7/8, 7/10, 7/15, 7/17
Central YMCA, Monday, 7 pm: 7/14

After July 17, I will be teaching every Tuesday night, 7:30 pm at South Boston Yoga. All other classes will be subbed until mid-August. To find out who the subs are, go to www.YogaSublime.com.

Ro is Coming to Assist on Monday, June 16th

2008-06-15T18:10:00.001-05:00

Come to the Central YMCA tomorrow night at 7 pm. Ro, who got rave reviews the last time she assisted, is coming back. See you in class!

Won't Be at EQ Today - Schuyler is subbing

2008-06-09T10:33:00.005-05:00

To my EQ students:

I apologize for not being at class today. I twisted my ankle a few days ago but continued to teach my regularly scheduled yoga classes anyway. That might not have been the smartest thing to do. Yikes! I finally gave in and called my massage therapist. Fortunately, she could see me today, but my appointment with her conflicts with the 1pm class at EQ. I expect to be back on Thursday for the 12:15pm class. Right now it's R.I.C.E. for me...rest, ice, compression, and elevation.

Ro is Coming Tonight!!

2008-06-09T10:07:00.002-05:00

Ro originally had plans for tonight that would have prevented her from making tonight's yoga class at 7 pm. But we got lucky because her schedule opened up!

Ro will be at the Central Y tonight assisting and adjusting yoga students in class while I teach and adjust as well. Don't miss this opportunity to get extra one-on-one attention during yoga class! Below is Ro's bio in her own words:

"I've been practicing yoga for about 6 years and have explored Bikram, Baptiste, Forrest, Shadow and Pranavayu yoga. I'm looking forward to the Ana Forrest Teacher Training in July 2008. I volunteer for yogaHOPE both as a teacher and assistant and completed the yogaHOPE Assisting workshop and Compassionate Teacher Workshop. Other than yoga, I enjoy being a lab rat and study basic science relevant to cancer. I also enjoy running in road races and have completed 10Ks, Half-marathons and 2 marathons."

I am so excited to have Ro assist in class. As we solidify her schedule for the month of June, I will post more information about when exactly she'll be assisting my classes.

Namaste,
Catherine

Yoga Assists in Class

2008-06-04T16:40:00.008-05:00

I hope to see you this Sunday, June 8th, at South Boston Yoga's Yoga Adjustment Workshop.

One of the workshop participants will be Ro, a yoga practitioner in the Boston area. She is a strong and passionate yoga practitioner who is well on her way to becoming a yoga teacher. Ro has agreed to assist and adjust some of my yoga classes starting this month. This will be such a treat for all of you who attend my classes. You will be getting extra attention and yoga adjustments unique to your needs. Check back on this blog to see which classes Ro will be assisting.

Adjust, Assist, and Accelerate - June 8th

2008-05-10T23:18:00.005-05:00

I invite all of you to attend an adjustment clinic workshop taught by David Vendetti at South Boston Yoga. It will take place on Sunday, June 8th at 1:30 - 3:30 pm. All levels from couch potato beginner to active beginner to intermediate to advanced yoga practitioners are welcome to attend. I'll definitely be there!

Here is a brief description of the workshop (as seen on SBY's website):
"Gentle assists and subtle adjustments can often change and greatly enhance the integration and acceleration of your yoga practice. Come on in and get an intriguing look at why this happens and how to effect change in the body in a nurturing and efficient way. All levels of practice are warmly welcome."

Sign up via the website or make a payment at the SBY studio. The cost for the entire workshop is just $35.

How Do you Deal?

2008-03-21T21:44:00.004-05:00

When a yoga pose becomes difficult or uncomfortable, how do you deal? What is your best response?

Your best options are:

1) Endure, thrive, and breathe in the challenge.
2) Modify the pose to make it easier.
3) Choose a completely different pose such as sitting meditation, child's pose, happy baby, a twist, down dog or its variations, or any other pose that seems better for you. The point is...DO A YOGA POSE. (Ask the teacher if you don't know what to do.)

Your worst options are:

1) Quit and feel like a failure and sit in a slump on your mat while looking around defeatedly at fellow students. This is counterproductive and a total waste of time.
2) Hold difficult pose too long and injure yourself. Injury generally results when you recklessly ignore your body and its needs.

You have options, and you must make decisions in your yoga practice. Your best options are the ones that make you feel brighter inside and/or make you safely challenge your mind and body to greater heights. Having the courage to hold a pose even though it may be challenging or uncomfortable can help you to learn more about yourself and to grow stronger physically, mentally, and spiritually.

Big Schedule Changes in July and August 2008

2008-03-20T23:22:00.006-05:00

So much will be happening in my personal life and my yoga life during July and August.

First of all, I will finally be taking my honeymoon on June 29th through July 6th. ~~I'll teach all my classes July 7-17.~~ I will be teaching some of my classes during July 7-17. Check this blog entry again, or just check my website schedule in July for updates.

From July 18th through August 10th, I will be investing my blood, sweat, and tears into Ana Forrest's Teacher Training in Boston. Each day of the training begins at 6 am and ends at 5 pm. I will need my evenings to do homework, complete assignments, contemplate the day's training, and hopefully have dinner! I have decided to teach just one class a week during the Forrest Teacher Training. That class will be the Tuesday night (7:30 pm) classes at South Boston Yoga.

There is a possiblity that I will have enough energy to teach the Thursday night (7:30 pm) classes at Central Branch YMCA as well. However, I don't anticipate having the energy to yell over basketball players in the adjacent court. Ana Forrest is a tough woman, and she will expect a lot from me and my fellow trainees. I might tentatively plan to teach the Thursday night YMCA classes and have a backup substitute teacher lined up in case I'm just too tired.

I am really excited about the teacher training. Hopefully, I'll return to you as a better yoga teacher!

Subbings While I'm Away February 9-23

2008-01-30T20:44:00.001-05:00

I'm leaving town for just a little while to get married. :)

Cambridge YMCA: Dorian is teaching on Feb 9 (9:30 am), Feb 14 (7 am but not 8 am), Feb 16 (9:30 am), Feb 19 (7 am AND 8 am), Feb 21 (7 am AND 8 am), and Feb 23 (9:30 am).

Willam is teaching on Feb 12 (7 AND 8 am).

Phoebe is teaching on Feb 14 (8 am). Note that Dorian is teaching that same morning at 7 am.

South Boston Yoga: Gabriel is teaching Feb 12 and 19 (7:30 pm). Dorian is teaching Feb 14 and 21 (4 pm).

Equilibrium: Schuyler is teaching all my classes.

University Club: Mattie (Please note that there is no class on Presidents' Day, Feb 18)

Central YMCA: Dorian is teaching Feb 11 and 18 (7 pm). JoEllen is teaching Feb 14 and 21 (7:30 pm).

Wang YMCA: Dorian is teaching all my classes.

Check this blog again to see if I am having my classes between Feb 24-29 subbed as well.

Ana Forrest is Coming to Town

2007-12-16T06:04:00.002-05:00

I'll be taking Ana Forrest's weekend long workshop in Boston on February 1st through 3rd. This means that I won't be teaching classes that weekend. Since Dorian will be taking the workshops as well, she won't be subbing for me. If you can make it, sign up for some or all of the workshops that weekend and join me! :) Information can be found at forrestyoga.com, and online registration is available at backbayyoga.com. Hope to see you there!

The Physical Body Holds Grudges

2007-12-12T00:27:00.001-05:00

Perhaps we are still suffering from residual physical and/or emotional trauma from long ago, or maybe our daily confinements to the desk and computer are finally taking their toll on us. Whatever the reason(s) may be, the physical body holds grudges.

Many students ask me about what kinds of exercises or yoga poses they could do to correct their various injuries and bodily discomforts. Of course, there's always a regimen of poses that can bring relief and help facilitate the healing process. However, in my personal experience, yoga poses alone aren't the answer.

The answer also lies in your behavioral patterns, defense mechanisms, relationship with yourself, relationships with others, seemingly benign habits, and much more. What about any of these aspects can you change or exercise in a different way that is more conducive to living and feeling well? Our physical bodies react to our emotional experiences. If we are tired, disappointed, or sad, we slouch. If we are angry, resentful, or frustrated, we clench. We panic and forget to breathe fully. The overworked mind and body closes on itself and coils down so that it cannot receive regenerative energy.

Sometimes the answer is simple. If you have one-sided neck, arm, or shoulder pain, maybe you're sleeping on the wrong side for too long. Maybe you need to improve your office ergonomics by repositioning your chair, mouse, and keyboard. How do you walk? What kind of shoes do you wear? Or maybe you've been ashamed, angered, hurt, heart-broken, betrayed, abused, all of which can physically incline you to shield your heart zone. If you are constantly shielding your heart, you might be slouching to protect it. With slouching comes an aching back, tight shoulders, a rigid spine, and a tense neck.

The above is just an array of examples that might or might not apply to you. My point is that yoga is extremely powerful, but its effectiveness is not as great if you keep abusing yourself or keep allowing others to abuse you. Yoga can teach you how to access traumatized, trapped, and neglected areas of the body by opening them up with a potent combination of breath, stretch, and muscle power. Owning up to these areas cultivates your courage and compassion, which you can take with you off the mat and into the real world. The physical exertion in yoga reawakens your joy and gratitude towards yourself and others around you. In a nutshell, you use your yoga practice as a tool to improve the quality of your life, your relationships, and your perspective overall.

South Boston Yoga - classes start on Jan 1st

2007-12-03T22:39:00.001-05:00

Start off the New Year right! The first day of classes at South Boston Yoga will be on January 1st. There will only be evening classes (starting at 4pm) on January 1st. The regular full class schedule will start on January 2nd. I will be teaching there on Tuesdays at 7:30pm and on Thursdays at 4pm. There are too many more wonderful and exciting details to fit into this blog, so just click on the South Boston Yoga website and see for yourself!

Also, when you visit the website, make sure to read about the opening weekend of FREE FREE FREE yoga. On January 5-6, the studio is offering free classes to the public. FYI, I'm teaching on January 5th at ~~1-2:30 pm~~ 1:30-3 pm. No worries if you can't make that time - there will be many other classes taught by fabulous SBY teachers that weekend! So check it out. If you have questions, email me or South Boston Yoga.

Tour of South Boston Yoga Studio

2007-10-21T12:36:00.001-05:00

After meeting all the other SBY teachers and taking a tour of the new studio yesterday, I can barely contain my excitement. :)

The studio is going to be right next door to an organic cafe called Sophia's. There's ample parking, and it's literally just steps away from the Red Line Broadway T Stop. I was a little nervous about getting lost, but the place is really easy to find.

The studio will have a dedicated yoga wall with ropes and straps for lots of cool back traction poses. There will even be a yoga swing hanging from the ceiling!!!! (Ah, how I miss the days of blissful yoga monkeying around at Boustany's old yoga studio in Houston.)

We're all striving to maintain the greenest possible space for yoga students. The mats and props will be eco-friendly, as well as all the cleaning products and sanitizers to be used in the studio.

I think the most striking thing about SBY is the diversity amongst its teachers. Even though most classes will be vinyasa-based, you'll get an insightfully different experience with each teacher. No two teachers are alike at this studio! Our differences in personalities, priorities, sequencings, teaching styles, and passions give students the opportunity to learn so much more. I suspect the one thing we do have in common is that we all teach to help others. We really enjoy watching students grow both on and off the mat.

As of now, I'm scheduled to teach at SBY on two different days: Tuesdays 7:30-9pm and Thursdays 4-5:30 pm. I'll confirm this once everything is finalized.

If you ever make it to Texas...

2007-10-17T19:48:00.002-05:00

You must take a class with Ann Hyde and Robert Boustany, two of the best yoga teachers I've ever had the pleasure of meeting.

I just returned from a week-long trip in Houston, TX. Most of the trip was spent wedding planning (yay! and ick), and the rest was spent in sheer yoga bliss with Ann and Robert. I took vinyasa-based yoga with Robert on two nights and Forrest yoga with Ann on two mornings.

Robert reminded us that despite all the mad crazy tangled up intense poses we do, none of it mattered. What really matters is how present we are. How just observing and paying attention to what is true in ourselves is enough. The breath is true. The more I just paid attention to my breath without controlling or navigating it, the more pervasive it became inside and outside of my body.

Ann has such a wonderful sense of humor. She managed to keep all of us in good spirits, even through the infamous Forrest ab exercises! I was very appreciative of her smart, compassionate, and extremely effective hands-on adjustments; having a busy teaching schedule myself, I rarely have the privilege of taking from other teachers, much less getting adjusted. Ann has a way with words. Her soothing voice and articulate yet succinct instructions kept me going strong, even through the most physically intense moments. It was truly a gift to be around Ann's boundless energy.

From Ann's and Robert's classes, I was reminded that doing a flawless handstand is not the point. It's the experience that matters. What am I feeling? Am I present? Can I breathe in more space? Can I appreciate exactly what I'm doing right now?

Each breath, even the silences in between, is an experience. To experience a breath, to let it be, and to not judge it is being in the now.

South Boston Yoga Website

2007-10-07T22:23:00.001-05:00

South Boston Yoga's website is now up but still under construction, so be sure to check back for future updates. Here it is: www.southbostonyoga.net.

And of course, I'll let you know when the studio opens for classes!

South Boston Yoga - mid-December

2007-09-20T14:32:00.001-05:00

Listen up! :) In mid-December, David Vendetti and Todd Skoglund are opening up a brand new yoga studio called South Boston Yoga. The studio will be located in the Macallen Building on 141 Dorchester Ave. across the Red Line Broadway T stop.

I am also happy to announce that I'll be teaching about three classes a week there. This means that my teaching schedule will probably change as of December 1st. My early morning classes will most likely stay the same, but some of my afternoon and evening classes might be switched around. I'll keep you guys posted on my schedule changes.

Below is a quick blurb that David gave me about the new studio. Enjoy!

"South Boston Yoga is located in the Macallen Building at 141 Dorchester Avenue across from the Broadway T stop (red line). There is ample parking and bus lines across the street. The building is environmentally friendly and is part of a developing 5 building project. The vision for the studio is one of community where everyone can come together and practice regardless of yoga style or body type. There will be an open morning practice for all levels and all styles of yoga. There will be classes for teens, moms and corporate groups looking to get in quick lunch time pick me up. We are also offering movie nights, kirtan events and raw food festivals. The building in which the studio is being built is called the Macallen and has been written up twice in the Globe and just recently in the New York Times for its innovative and eco-safe style. It is the perfect place to nurture and grow an amazing yoga sanctuary."

This studio is going to be Off. The. Hook! I hope to see you guys there.

Saturday's Workshop was a BLAST

2007-07-15T15:35:00.001-05:00

Thanks to Jessica Abelson, who co-taught, and Dorian Rose, who skillfully assisted in hands-on adjustments. If it weren't for these two wonderful teachers, this workshop would not have been possible.

And to all the participants-
You were amazing. I was truly inspired by your energy and enthusiasm to explore a little deeper into the more subtle layers of your body. And as for those sun salutaions, I could feel your spirits pumping!! Keep up the good work. We went over a lot of stuff, so feel free to email me if you have questions.

The next workshop, "Open Your Heart," will most likely be in September or October. We will focus on the next three chakras via backbending. See you then. :)

Kids' Yoga

2007-06-17T11:51:00.001-05:00

The most wonderful children attended my adult yoga class this morning! When their parents first approached me about bringing them to class, I was a little hesitant about it. Kids' Yoga is quite different than an adult yoga class. (Kids's yoga classes are paced much faster.) I felt that the rigorous routine my adults usually practiced would be too overwhelming for the children. Ultimately, I was afraid of ruining the yoga experience for them. (What if they're bored? What if they leave hating yoga?) Before class started I shook their tiny little hands while they articulately introduced themselves. At that moment I knew everything would be OK. It was a little challenging at first to teach the adults while modifying poses for the kids, but it actually ended up being extremely fun for me personally. To top it off, class progressed pretty smoothly. Although I still believe that the children would have tons more fun in an actual kids' yoga class, I told both the parents and children that they were welcome to come back ANY time!! Which brings my to my next point...

I've decided to get certified in Kids' Yoga, probably by the end of July. Before moving to Boston, I taught piano, voice, and yoga to elementary and middle-school-aged children. It was awesome!!! And a little fatiguing at times ;) Anyway, teaching those two children this morning inspired me to go ahead and finally get certified in Kids' Yoga. Wish me luck :D

Yoga Workshop on the Chakras at YMCA

2007-06-03T18:17:00.001-05:00

I'm pleased to announce that Jessica Abelson and I are conducting a special Chakras workshop at the Wang on Saturday, July 14th, 1-4 pm. We will lead you through a vigorous series of asanas (yoga poses) that will connect you to your chakras. This workshop will specifically address the first two chakras by using yoga poses and breathing exercises to revitalize your feet, knees, legs, abdomen and lower back.

You will learn:
1) Where and what the chakras do
2) Basic anatomy of the spine
3) How to modify yoga poses for injuries
4) How to use your intuition via the chakras

Below is a list of the essential chakras and their corresponding glands in the body:
1) Muladhara - Renal
2) Swadhishtana - Gonad
3) Manipuraka - Adrenal
4) Anahata - Thymus
5) Vishuddhi - Thyroid
6) Ajna - Pituitary
7) Sahasrara - Pineal

This workshop is open to both YMCA members ($45 fee) and non-members ($55). Students of all levels, from complete beginners to experienced practitioners, are welcome!

If you've questions, email Catherine at Catherine@YogaSublime.com or Jessica, UpsideDown90@hotmail.com. You can also phone call Catherine at (617) 426-2237 x242. We hope to see you there!

Sorry for Canceling Classes on Thurs, 5/31

2007-05-31T18:05:00.001-05:00

To my Equilibrium and YMCA Students:

I went to the ER at about 11 am this morning for nausea, abdominal pain, bad chills, and fever. The doctors were worried that I was exhibiting symptoms of appendicitis, so they performed a cat scan on me, which THANKFULLY showed that I had a completely healthy appendix!!!! However, I'm still very nauseated and just plain weak overall, especially from that nasty radioactive liquid they made me ingest before the cat scan. Food smells and thoughts of eating anything make me want to hurl. We all agreed that I was probably suffering from a classic case of the stomach flu. (What did I eat?!?!?!?)

Anyway, I hope that you guys can forgive me for canceling today's classes. It was a really hard decision to make, but until I can stand on my two feet without feeling nauseated or dizzy, it probably isn't a good idea to do much of anything.

See you next week,
Catherine