Just Breathe

Yes it is true. I am a yogi. I have been practicing for eight years and I have been teaching for four. I don’t' talk about it that much, and at the same time people are typically stunned that "someone like me" teaches yoga.

"Someone like me" seems to never have a definition. But it does make me smile.

It's hard to describe yoga, especially to the triathlete world. While it does bother me that misconceptions exist about yoga being terrible for multisport, I don’t' do much to correct that myth.

The truth of the matter is…. yoga and triathlon are quite similar. Very similar.

In both arenas the danger lies in your edge. In triathlon it is risky to push that edge and that edge has several definitions. In yoga pushing that edge means pushing too far into a pose, doing something you aren't ready for (bakasana or headstand in class one…) and usually ends in injury.

I have seen both change people's lives. Sometimes yoga feels like my best kept secret.

There are lots of schools of yoga. Iyengar, Bikram, Ashtanga, etc. They all have great qualities and I explored them through my early yoga years.

I walked into the studio where I now teach, Breathe Yoga and I found my Kula. My community. My home.

I was introduced to Baptiste Power Vinyasa. We practice together in a heated room of ninety degrees. It is an athletic practice, and there is the danger that one can push too far…. if they are not ready or they don't listen to their body.

I began my studies with Baron Baptiste in Hawaii in 2005 and I shall be continuing this coming year. In fact I am going to be assisting Baron himself in an upcoming workshop, with my amazing fellow instructors.

If flexibility were a requirement for yoga, I would have been kicked out eight years ago. I am the most inflexible yoga teacher you will ever have. I use blocks, I bend my knees in a half way lift, my heels do not touch the floor in downward facing dog.

The only thing you need to be able to practice yoga is the ability to breathe. Yoga is a moving meditation. Just like running. Just like cycling. Just like swimming.

The Darth Vader breath you will hear is called the Ujai breath. Imagine you are whispering the word HA with your mouth closed. You will feel the sensation, you will hear your breath and just like you tune a radio into a radio station, you tune into your breath.

Give it a try. Just sit quietly. Close your eyes and see if you can feel that breath.

Cultivate it, practice it. I promise you it is magic.

Add the breath to the movement. I like to say that the breath is your tour guide through the practice.

For example: Sun Salutation A;

Your first class you think about it, memorize it, analyze it, and maybe judge it. You think:

Downward Facing Dog.
Step or float to the hands.
Halfway lift
forward fold
Come all the way to standing
Fold forward.
Lift halfway.
Step or float back to chattarugna
Upward dog,
downward dog.

Now, turn the voice off in your head. Let the thoughts stop bouncing off like tennis balls. Tune into that magical breath. Same sequence; but rather than thinking…. breathe the movements:

Downward Facing Dog.
Exhale (Step or float to the hands.)
Inhale (Halfway lift)
Exhale (forward fold)
Inhale (Come all the way to standing)
Exhale (Fold forward)
Inhale (Lift halfway.)
Exhale (Step or float back to chattarugna)
Inhale (Upward dog)
Exhale (downward dog)

After a while you don't think about the sequence. You surrender to it. You just breathe. Nothing more complicated than that. Just breathe.

And then after a while you stop looking around, you stop watching the most flexible girl in class and you tune in to yourself. It isn't escaping. It's getting to know you.

We want others to spend time with us. Try spending time with you.

I am not good at articulating why I love my yoga. I don't try to preach it to others because they need to find their way there if it is for them.

Yoga has saved my life in so many ways.

Have you ever driven down the street, and thought "Hey, did I pass the grocery store? Holy cow…. how did I do that?"

That used to happen to me for weeks on end. I would be in my life but I wouldn't be present in my life. I lived at Lactate Threshold.

Yoga taught me to be fully present in every moment of my life.

Yoga taught me to let go.

Yoga taught me to surrender.

Yoga gave me wings.

Sure the naysayers will always be there. Asking me if I won yoga today, if my Chakras are balanced, if my downward facing dog barks….. and I smile. I wish I could give you the window, I wish I could show you the magic.

But I can't. And it isn't for everyone, just like multisport isn't.

What I can say is that if you find your place on your mat…. and it takes some searching. The journey you will embark on will be forever. It will teach you a lot about you.

At Breathe we have an amazing Kula, comminuty, yoga family. We are all walks of life. There is no more diverse group of people whom I share practice with each day. Including my amazing teachers and fellow instructors. They are family to me. Absolute family.

I practice every single day. I mostly practice at home. I try to hit a studio class once a week. I teach five, and some days my teaching is my practice. I get just as much out of it as they do.

Some days my practice is 10 minutes. But it is daily. I wish I could correctly articulate what it has done for me.

When I say it has saved my life…. I don’t' say that lightly.

So I encourage you to spread your wings. Step onto a mat. The lessons you learn on that mat will transcend the boundaries you thought you had. They will take you places you didn't think they could.

All you need….. is to breathe.