Archive for 2010

PRESS RELEASE: “Yoga Off the Mat” by Katie Spiers

New Yoga Book - Yoga off the Mat by Katie Spiers

Yoga Off the Mat Book Launch

Is yoga really more than stretching?

You may be able to tie yourself in knots, but does that really count as yoga? Perhaps not, at least according to Sydney-based author and yoga school director, Katie Spiers.

In her latest book, Yoga Off the Mat (published by Live Yoga Life, February 26), Manitsas conveys to the curious and the converted how to ensure their yoga practice is far more than simply stretching. The work is a follow up to her earlier book Spiritual Survival and the City (published by Hardie Grant as Katie Spiers).

Now that yoga has been embraced as a mainstream activity in Australia, Manitsas says it’s time practitioners realised the ancient practice is about far more than simply staying fit:

“Where yogic philosophy becomes really useful, and much more difficult to apply, is in everyday life – off the mat. Our everyday situations give us plenty of chances to apply this broader understanding of yoga; it can impact everything from how we relate to the planet through to our own self esteem,” she says.

As she explores how the full teachings of yoga, including its ethical and philosophical backgrounds, can help us Manitsas explains how yoga has much to offer the mind as a meditative art. It also helps us see ourselves in a more positive light:

“We may have grown up in a culture that tells us we can be whatever we want to be and a credit card can buy us anything we need, but this has left us embracing the message that who we are, how we see ourselves and how others see us is based on what we have and what we look like,” says Manitsas.

“Yoga teaches us that true self-confidence comes from within and that once we are grounded in knowing who we really are; a confidence will arise that is unshakable, regardless of our bank balance,” she says.

For those already practicing yoga ‘Yoga Off the Mat’ provides a valuable resource for learning more, particularly in the context of social ethics and ‘spiritual activation’. Newcomers to the practice will find Manitsas’ easy to read style offers a good starting point to the full yoga practice.

Author Katie Spiers (formerly Spiers) is Sydney-based Samadhi Yoga Studio Director and Certified Advanced Jivamukti Yoga teacher.

Available in both paperback and ebook (downloadable format) online through www.liveyogalife.com. Paperback also available at www.samadhiyoga.com.au.

Media materials including images are available from www.samadhiyoga.com.au and www.liveyogalife.com. Media contact for interviews contact Monica Redondo via our Contact Form.

adobe reader pdf imagePDF – “YOGA OFF THE MAT” (Publication), February 2010 Press Release (PDF Version)

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Thank You! To all who joined us at the YOTM Book Launch…

New Yoga Book - Yoga off the Mat by Katie Spiers

We had an amazing time at our book launch for “Yoga Off the Mat” at Sydney’s Samadhi Yoga Studio last Friday.

Thank you to all who came!

Kuddos as well to Katie Spiers for such a powerful and inspiring dynamic practice at the workshop preceding the launch. The practice tested comfort-zones with three-point head-stands and many delightful and unique Jivamukti asanas – such as the one-legged-side-lift!

As requested, here’s the inspiring extract from Katie’s book, “Yoga Off the Mat”, which had us all inspired – a perfect ending to the beautiful asana practice:

“Our yoga asana practice can be an excellent mirror for this. On some days we may feel like we are making excellent progress and the body is light and free. On other days we are tired or grumpy and progress feels hindered. The lesson is to get on the mat and do the practice anyway. To set a goal, clearly defined and to do our very best to see that goal through to completion. The practice will have to be flexible to accommodate various factors such as our level of health or our age for example, but it should be done with a sense of willingness and belief in the positive benefits for ourselves and others even if they are not immediately obvious. This is difficult for us because we live in a time where we avoid uncertainty and expect instant results. It is a challenge to train ourselves not only to let go of instant outcomes but also to believe in results we can’t always see straight away.

Buddhist teacher Geshe Michael Roach, an extraordinary man and teacher who has authored several wonderful books and runs a school called ‘Diamond Mountain’ in the USA has a simple yet powerful analogy for this cultivation of intention and karma – gardening. He describes that just as a tomato seed will never grow into a mango tree, a mango stone will never become an oak tree. The seeds that we sow in our lives (through our karma – our actions) will ripen according to the type of seed planted. Good deeds will lead to further good karma and vice versa. In his book ‘How Yoga Works’ (co-authored by Christie McNally) he puts it like this,

“Nothing we ever do, nothing we ever say, nothing we ever think fails to plant a seed. And each of these seeds will wait patiently in line, for years and years if necessary, to ripen upon us. They never ever ‘forget’ … from now on, we need to be careful only to plant good new seeds and never negative ones.”

An important aspect of this teaching to keep in mind is that the intention behind an action can either heighten the positive karma accrued or lessen negative karma. Again from ‘How Yoga Works’,

“What we do to help or to hurt others is at the bottom of everything. Nothing works, not yoga or any other thing we ever do, unless we have been careful to plant the seeds in our mind to see it work.”

What this teaching means to me is that we have to believe in ourselves. We have to believe in our ability to change, to evolve as a human being, and ultimately to believe in the potential within each of us for enlightenment – before we can see that potential blossom we first have to imagine it, and believe in it.

Katie Spiers, p. 93-93, “Yoga Off the Mat”


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Live Yoga Life – WE’RE BACK!!!

It is great to be back! Hope you enjoy all the new stuff.

Updates and hot new classes coming to you soon.

Namaste,

Live Yoga Life Team

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Join us! “Yoga Off the Mat” Workshop & Book-Launch

New Yoga Book - Yoga off the Mat by Katie Spiers

Join Live Yoga Life and Katie Spiers in the much-awaited release of “Yoga Off the Mat”!

Available in eBook or Paperback edition.

Friday February 26th,
6pm – 8pm Workshop, $25
8pm – 9pm Book-signing, reading and chai (free of charge)

Join Katie for her first workshop since she became a mother for the second time. In this workshop we will explore the many faces of our yoga practice. It is easy to be peaceful and graceful in our asana practice, but once we step off the mat and onto the street it might be a challenge to maintain
that sense of calm and quietude.

How can we find the ‘yoga’ in challenging situations be they at work, with our families or even in the obstacles that we encounter from time to time.

Expect a dynamic asana class in-fused with great music and inspiring readings. After the workshop Katie will read a short extract from her new book (published by ‘Live Yoga Life’ – NOW AVAILABLE! – while we serve chai.

Please join us for this special event. Bookings are essential – www.samadhiyoga.com.au

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NEW BOOK RELEASE! “Yoga Off the Mat” by Katie Spiers

Jivamukti Yoga Teacher - Katie Spiers

We invite you to join us for the book-launch of “Yoga Off the Mat”, another inspiring book from the author of “Spiritual Survival and the City”, Katie Spiers.

Yoga Off the Mat’ is a collection of insights and reflections from yoga teacher and studio director Katie Spiers. Katie has been practicing yoga since childhood and in this unique book she offers commentary and inspiration around how we might take the teachings of yoga into our everyday lives on a very pragmatic level. From vegetarian diet to caring for the environment and sticking to a meditation practice Katie makes suggestions you will find inspiring, practical and useful whether you consider yourself a practitioner of yoga or not!

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The Yoga of Motherhood

Experienced Prenatal Yoga Teacher - Ana Davis

Written by Ana Davis

Previously published on Australian Yoga Life magazine July 2007 Issue no.18. Visit Australian Yoga Life at www.ayl.com.au. This article is best viewed in PDF format as the original contains images – PDF Article: The Yoga of Motherhood.

Most people know the importance of yoga during pregnancy, but there is less awareness of how yoga can enhance the mother’s physical and mental wellbeing once the baby is born. In this brief guide for new and experienced yogis, Ana Davis explores how yoga can help provide a fresh perspective on the challenges of new motherhood.

In the sleep deprived haze of new motherhood, I felt that I had lost my former life. The endless tasks involved in caring for my newborn saw me say goodbye to my precious daily yoga practice. As a yoga teacher and long time practitioner, this was a big adjustment.

It was only when I came to see the journey of motherhood as the ultimate act of devotional yoga, that I was able to surrender and release any feelings of resentment about the irreversible changes to the landscape of my daily routines.

Instead of looking at the clock and wishing I could be on my yoga mat while I patted my baby to sleep for sometimes up to an hour, I found I needed to make a conscious decision to soften into the moment and make this my yoga. “This is my yoga”, I said, as a silent mantra to myself, “He is my yoga.” This moment by moment experience of holding my baby close afforded me the opportunity to breathe deeply and feel the warmth from my heart and solar plexus centres permeating into his soft little body.

Centring and connection

With this shift in my thinking about the ‘yoga of motherhood’, I was also able to accept that my asana (posture) practice needed to be shaped around my baby centred chores. Flexibility was the key. Instead of fighting against my limited time, I utilised every spare moment to get back on the yoga mat while my baby slept or was being minded by someone else. The beauty of yoga as a way of promoting mind-body wellness for busy new mums is that we can do it at home, in our living room. It’s an ideal postnatal form of exercise as it is gentle and broad enough in its repertoire so that it can be sensitively adapted to the changing needs of each woman. It is also safe and beneficial even for an absolute beginner.

I discovered that a lot could be achieved in a mere 20 or 30 minutes home practice: a complete and rounded practice that left me feeling refreshed, nourished and ready to return to the demands of mothering and running a yoga studio.

Conversely, Sydney yoga teacher Alexis Stewart didn’t practice any yoga at all for the first six months after the birth of her son. She found that, as a consequence, she crashed mentally, physically and emotionally. “The worst of it was that I didn’t feel like ‘myself’ and yet I couldn’t remember how it was that I used to feel,” reflects Alexis. “I just knew that I didn’t feel like ‘me’.”

In the years since, Alexis has observed the many benefits that new mothers in her classes, experienced and novices alike, have received. She believes that new mums often lose their connection with the present moment because they are so busy and exhausted and get lost amidst their chores. “So yoga is a time to slow the whole show down,” Alexis says. “By being in their bodies and watching their breath, they are brought into the present moment of ‘being’. It is ‘being’ that the soul craves, and the more we are able to be, the more balanced we feel.”

Many women are introduced to yoga for the first time when they attend pregnancy classes or, for an increasing number, their entrée into the joys and rewards of yoga may be through attending a Mums ‘n’ Bubs yoga class. Perhaps this is because these unique classes are baby friendly, allowing the mum to bring her baby to class.

Jayne Hughes, one of the mothers in the Mums ‘n’ Bubs yoga classes at Bondi Bliss Yoga Studio, found postnatal yoga a godsend. She enjoyed the sense of community offered by yoga classes designed especially for new mums and their babies.

“I loved the special time and space these postnatal classes created for us in the early days and also the wonderful mums and bubs I’ve met through the classes,” Jayne recalls.

A valuable skill that many of the mothers in these classes learn is how to relax – even amidst the cacophony of noises of a room full of babies. As Jayne found, this was a practical skill she was able to then apply within the context of her busy home life.

“I was able to give myself short relaxation sessions despite everything going on around me – dirty nappies, housework etc. – to relax and turn off and find my own quiet space”, says Jayne.

What Byron Bay mum, Renee Adams-Cook enjoys about attending postnatal yoga classes is that she feels like she is doing something for herself. “The classes are not too strenuous for a new mum, but at the same time, I still feel like I’m doing exercise and getting the benefits,” Renee says.

An overwrought new mother may be resistant to doing anything that might take her away from her many baby related obligations. However, in my experience, as well as that of many of my students and colleagues, yoga can actually help her care for her baby better.

If the mother practices yoga techniques that nurture her, then it only increases her energy and vitality to keep on giving back to her child. As Jayne Hughes says, “The classes helped me to keep my own mental health in sight as an important element of mothering, particularly in those early days.”

Nurturing and restoration

In the first six weeks or so after childbirth, a woman’s yoga practice needs to be gentle and nurturing. Pranayama (breathing techniques), relaxation and supported restorative postures will form the basis of her practice. These practices will help her rest and rejuvenate on a deep level. This very gentle approach to postnatal yoga makes it ideal for the first time practitioner to experience how yoga can help in the healing process.

There is no need for the mother to rush onto the gym treadmill or back to her favourite Ashtanga class in an attempt to lose the baby weight. In fact, strong exercise, if performed too early or rigorously, can be counter productive and can contribute towards injury and even burn-out.

Instead, she can take this opportunity to practice the yogic concept of ahimsa. Ahimsa or nonviolence means not only cultivating gentleness towards others but also compassion towards oneself. This is where restorative yoga poses come to the fore: deeply restful postures with plenty of support, from bolsters, cushions, blankets or blocks. Judith Lasater’s classic book Relax & Renew is a great way to acquaint you with these poses.

Perth based yoga teacher and mum, Kiah Hamersley found she experienced gentle back bending and shoulder opening effects from the pose Supta Baddha Konasana (Reclining bound angle pose) over a bolster. “I loved it for the the calm, measured breathing it seemed to induce and the opportunity it gave me to put the eye bag on and rest,” says Kiah. “I think I even went to sleep in the pose (legs supported on pillows) when I did it in bed! Which may sound bizarre but it really helped me get into a deep sleep quickly.”

One of my own favourites after the birth of my son, Marley, two years ago, was Supta Virasana (Reclining hero pose) supported on a bolster, to passively stretch my quadriceps and psoas. As is common, these had become tight from the lower back being moved into exaggerated lumbar lordosis (swayed lower back) in the latter months of pregnancy. I also found this pose beneficial for its gentle stretching and opening of the abdominal area that had been so cramped from sharing the space with the baby in utero.

After bleeding stops, the restorative pose, Viparita Karani (Legs up the wall pose) with the bottom supported on a folded blanket or bolster, is a wonderful pose that can be practiced on its own at any time to receive the benefits of an inversion as well as facilitating deep breathing. It is extremely rejuvenating and therapeutic for the lower back. See ‘The First 6 Weeks’ for other safe and effective poses.

While in a supported pose or sitting or lying in relaxation, the emphasis is on lengthening and deepening the inhalation during the early postnatal weeks. I found the viloma pranayama (interval breathing) with emphasis on the three part inhalation especially helpful. (See pull out box for instructions). Focusing on the inhalations can help energise and build optimism which can be beneficial for counteracting the lethargy and negativity that can accompany sleep deprivation. As time goes on, women can shift their focus to longer exhalations which engender relaxation and the letting go of mental and physical tension.

Strength and stability From six weeks onwards, the body has had some time for restoration of the uterus and energy levels begin to return. The mother can now focus on some stronger poses that will enhance her energy and continue the work of knitting back the birthing muscles pelvic floor and deep abdominals.

Strengthening the core muscles will also be beneficial in supporting a weakened back, which is essential to help combat the relentless forward bending postural strains caused by carrying and caring for her baby. I found a blend of yoga and pilates very effective in returning strength and stability to my core. (see ‘6 Weeks Onwards’ page xx for some beneficial poses).

After a Caesarean Section, a woman should wait till the wound has completely healed, usually about two months, before embarking on abdominal toning or any of the stronger yoga poses.

Many women enjoy poses that help release tight upper back and shoulders caused by the endless hours of breastfeeding. See ‘Breast Feeding Counter-poses’ above for poses that help release tension and in build stability in this area, and counterbalance a tendency towards postural kyphosis (rounding of the upper back.

Enjoy your baby and your yoga

Originating from the ancient Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is the concept of Isvara pranidhana, which can be interpreted as ‘surrender to the divine or a higher power’. To flow more harmoniously with the demands of new motherhood, there needs to be an ongoing melting of the ego. As BKS Iyengar points out: “In bhakti or true love there is no place for ‘I’ and ‘mine’. When the feeling of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ disappears, the individual soul has reached full growth.”

Now, as a busy, single mother to a rambunctious toddler, this wonderful tool called ‘yoga’ continues to help boost my joy levels on a daily basis. I relish the opportunities that motherhood has presented so far to embody the rich philosophy of yoga, both on and off the mat.

References

Linda Sparrows and Patricia Walden. The Woman’s Book of Yoga & Health, 2002
Laura Staton and Sarah Perron. Baby Om-Yoga for Mothers & Babies, 2003
BKS Iyengar. Light on Yoga, 1991 Bernard Bouanchaud. The Essence of Yoga-Reflections on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, 1997
Francoise Barbira Freedman. Yoga for Pregnancy, Birth and Beyond, 2004
Judith Lasater. Relax & Renew-Restful Yoga for Stressful Times, 1995

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