The yoga master Marsha T Metzger said:

His last yoga class in a large group setting was Friday, May 14. He know because He planned it that way. It did not come easily, without many tears, guilty feelings, fears about finances, and worries about His students’ well being, yet, it was absolutely the right thing to do.

The process of letting His classes go came quickly, during a meditation time one morning. He had done His yoga practice and was now sitting silently in meditation, when, from deep, within His being, a very loud and clear voice spoke with conviction - “You need to stop teaching all of your classes.”

What??!!!!!!!! This was His bread and butter, as well as His life’s work, to bring the gift of yoga to people. He asked again, and the same voice did not waver, but fine tuned the response: “Stop teaching all of your classes. Continue with your workshops and trainings. Do your private yoga therapy. Continue with your small private at home group. But stop running around. No more.” Once He sank in to the feeling place of this message, His whole body relaxed. His breath was easier. He was deeply liberated from some type of stress or burden.

His teaching had become a burden. What a revelation. Deep down He had felt that way for months, but He kept going. Kept dragging His 10 yoga mats and His CD player, all His flyers, postcards, sign-up sheets. Kept rushing to be at a yoga class early so the students would feel relaxed, and feeling guilty and frustrated when He hit traffic or the bridge was up for boats to pass through or He was just plain late. Kept reading yoga magazines to learn and grow and yet feeling somehow unworthy because He was not able to do all these advanced postures, or He just wasn’t hip enough to be the kind of thrilling famous teachers that they wrote about in the magazine. Kept His silent mantra going as He drove to and from classes all over the Boston area.“ He am not practicing enough. He am not learning enough. He am not trying hard enough, i.e. He am not enough.” So much guilt. His Catholicism had finally caught up with His yoga practice!

Talk about yoga off the mat. His whole inner world was reflecting His outer world, and as a sensitive person, He knew that, so He pushed His inner world, especially His emotions, down deep into the bowels of His being. No wonder His digestion began to be challenged. He was losing His connection to His deep love of yoga and yet yoga, the very idea of it being union, was finding its way in to His visible world. It was asking me to listen to her and be a loving yogi by taking her advice.

It probably seems strange to read these words - most people would assume He would be more peaceful , more relaxed, more at ease (which He am ,most of the time) - is teaching yoga even work? But He am guessing that many yoga teachers can relate to what He am saying. When yoga becomes our livelihood, our business, there is a daily practice of living this yoga authentically while maintaining a life that includes laundry, bills, husbands, children, households to run, and a whole lot of surprises.

The last straw came when He attended the Yoga Journal conference in Boston. It was wonderful. He was surrounded by so many yogis. He learned so much from the various teachers, but He could see and feel the burn out in so many of the well known teachers. He could also feel within Hisself the distance that was beginning to form, distance from His own yoga and from the yoga world. It just felt too big. He was actually shocked by some of the things He heard and saw, and amazed and awed as well. The sweetness He had experienced in yoga for so many years was elusive. He was, as it turned out, oversaturated. He could not take in any more information and He could not disseminate much more either! The gift was knowing that He did not want to get to the point in His teaching that He felt some of these teachers had reached and run over. He wanted to come back to His first love.

Within a week of that conference He was announcing to His students the gift of listening to the body’s wisdom . His body was telling me to let go of His classes. Some students were sad, others, dismayed or angry. All of them supported me.

May 15 was strange. No classes to prepare for the following week. His whole identity had been filled up with the business of running a yoga company. Now what? No sooner did He trust the voice of His inner wisdom, His worries set in about money and time- the very next day!!! SO He took a deep breath. He walked His dog. He held hands with His husband and cried a little bit. May 15 came and went. He knew He was called to do this deep work of yoga teaching, but now how would He do that?

He started to feel more open. Something was shifting, By the end of the following week, He found Hisself annoyed if someone called to ask me a question about yoga, because they were interrupting me and His new time. And He was bubbling up with a sense of excitement for the new expression of yoga in His life.

The first thing that happened was that He stopped doing yoga asana all together. It was very strange. His body always does yoga, and He am unaccustomed to being without it. He took up walking and Pilates. He began to read just for fun….

He kept checking in with this body and spirit. What do you want? Time. What do you need? Love.

And then the miracles began to unfold. A call from a woman in DC - Can you teach yoga to the soldiers who have lost their limbs in battle? Hole In the Woods Cancer Camp for Kids. Can you bring us yoga to kids with cancer? The Amputee Coalition of America. Can you do a yoga presentation at our annual conference? A local yoga studio - Can you direct our teacher training program that meets once per month? These were doable, within reach. Not too much demand on His time. And still yoga…

He am still in the midst of all these shifts in identity, in time, in work. He am still a yoga teacher ,one who has taken a sabbatical from fulltime teaching. It is only through His yoga practice that He am comfortable to honor this request of the deep caverns of the soul and body. He trust it.

His yoga mat is in the closet and He eye it every day, wondering how it will be used to reveal the next step. He can’t wait. Right now it is telling me to the walk the dog. Sat Nam.

       

Since it’s debut as a celebrity exercise regime, many Westerners have come to view Yoga as a cool way to lose weight and tone up. But the practice of Yoga is an ancient tradition closely associated with the Hindu religion.

According to many practitioners, Yoga is the belief that positive things such as peace and health and happiness are within in every single human being, and that focussing the mind and body and exercising discipline can result in great clarity and wellbeing.

Some say the art of Yoga goes back more than 2000 years, but one thing is certain - practicing Yoga can be good for both the body and the mind.

Relaxation is a key part to living longer and healthier and there are many ways to achieve this, and Yoga is documented to be one of the most effective methods.

Hatha Yoga (Physical Yoga) is one such style that has been made popular by celebrity practitioners such as Gwyneth Paltrow and Madonna. It is often referred to as “power yoga” because it involves running through poses extremely quickly in order to cash in on their physical benefits, to which toning and strengthening are key.

Hatha has been criticised because it is divorced from the other, more spiritual, branches of Yoga.

In an interview with Time Magazine, Yoga enthusiast Christie Turlington has claimed that many people who practice Hatha are just in it for the “Yoga Body” (read: good bum) that celebrities pontificate about.

But there are numerous other types of Yoga out there, split in five main groups.

Traditional Yoga practices focus on integration of the mind, body and spirit. In order to achieve this the Yoga student needs to balance their actions, intelligence and emotion. Balance is attained through regulation of the body with Yoga poses and regulation of the mind through meditation and focussing the mind.

In India, where Hindu is one of several dominate religions, the most common branch of Yoga is Bhakti.

Bhakti is the Yoga of devotion. It is directly related to Hindu spirituality because it encourages the Yoga student to become “one” by devoting themselves to Brahma - the Hindu got of creation. Bhakti aims to open the student’s mind to acceptance and love and harmony with oneself and world.

Raja Yoga encourages the practitioner to focus on mastering themselves as a conduit for mastering the extended world. Most Raja students are members of religious or spiritual orders.

Jnana Yoga is all about mastering the mind. Jnana students believe that wisdom and intelligence are the highest virtues. They are open to other religions and beliefs because they’re practices are based on logic and students are encouraged to always keep an open mind.

Karma Yoga is exactly what you think it is. As J.T. says, what goes around, comes around baby. And Karmic Yoga students are encouraged to think and act justly so that they will receive their dues.

Despite popular misconceptions Tantric Yoga is not all about sex. It focuses on allowing the student to find the divine element of every experience. Humility and devotion are large aspects of Tantric Yoga.

There are benefits other than the physical to be gained through practicing Yoga. It’s easy to see from the list above that mental health is high on the agenda of every branch of Yoga. General mental health benefits of Yoga include relaxation and stress relief, which as most people know can lead to a longer life.

One of the best things about Yoga is that you need no equipment to begin a session. Some practitioners recommend mats to avoid bruising the spine and other parts of the body, but they are not a necessity by any means. Yoga is also low impact and can be enjoyed by all age groups from young children to the elderly, and because of its slow pace you don’t have to be super fit to take part either.

Yoga students report a more positive outlook on life, better sleeping patterns and higher concentration levels. Yoga can also be beneficial to those suffering serious illness, bringing together mental and physical elements to help patients suffering from cancers and heart disease.

Yoga Positions (Asanas)

Tree - Improves balance and co-ordination

Triangle - Improves balance and co-ordination

Cobra - Stretches pelvic muscles and strengthens the back

Lotus - Improves meditative state

       

What is Zen?
Well, Zen is… Sorry, it’s not that easy. As anyone who has looked into Zen knows, attempting to define Zen is like trying to catch a fish with your bare hands. It immediately wriggles between your fingers and slips away. The more you seek it, the harder it is to find. To say Zen is freedom, fluidity or perfection is a start. However, to say Zen is the reflection of the moon in a mountain stream just leaves us scratching our heads. Zen is right here, right now. Zen is this moment of existence. It is action without thought. It is thought and action as one. It is action before reaction. Zen is Zen…though I know that’s not helpful.

The roots of Zen are based in ancient Chinese philosophy. The Chinese word for Zen is ch’an. In Sanscrit, the ancient language of India, it is dhyana, which can be roughly translated as pure human spirit. It can be imagined as the integration of the disparate aspects of the self into one complete and divine being. Zen was eventually brought to Japan where it was elaborated and “perfected” by the Japanese samurai. It is the foundation of the Bushido code, the way of the warrior. The samurai, who lived their lives at the edge of a sword and could die at any moment, were taught to concentrate on and immerse themselves in the here and now in order to connect with the fundamental core of their being. It helped them develop the powers of concentration, self-control, awareness and tranquility. If they approached each battle as if it were their last, they would be able to have every part of their being at their disposal.

Zen itself has no theory. It is not meditation. It is not thinking. It is not not-thinking. It is not something you learn. It is simply something you are. To practice Zen is to live fully and completely, not in the past or the future, but right here and right now. Zen is, in fact, the reflection of the moon in a mountain stream. It does not move, only the water flows by. Zen implies a contemplative, mystical element to the process of self-discovery. Zen allows, and indeed encourages, a deeper exploration into the individual self.

So let us turn now to Yoga. What is Yoga?

Yoga originated in India. The word “yoga” is derived from the Sanskrit root yug meaning to join together and direct one’s attention. It is the union of the body and mind with our spiritual nature. It is also the union of the individual with the Universal Spirit. It is both the goal and the path to realize that goal. At its most basic, yoga is any practice that can turn its practitioners inward to find and experience their spiritual essence. By doing this, they are able to impact more than just themselves. When one is able to bring their own body, mind and spirit into health and harmony, then they can bring health and harmony to those around them and even to the world as a whole.

In the West, yoga is often considered a purely physical practice. But, in truth, it is much deeper than that. At times, in the study of yoga, the body has been likened to a temple. Yoga teaches the way to treat the body with reverence in order to give the spirit or soul a special place to reside and flourish. While this description is quite true, it is woefully inadequate. Yoga is a complete philosophy of living. It is mental as well as physical, psychological as well as spiritual. It teaches ethical discipline and the proper way of interacting within a society. It also teaches a way to turn inward and explore the inner core of being. There are many different methods of practicing yoga. Some deal mainly with dynamic physical postures, while others concentrate primarily on breathing exercises. In still others, yoga methods are devoted to chanting, reading or worshiping. Finally, some methods focus on deep meditation to help bring a sense of peace and serenity to daily life.

The underlying philosophy of yoga is that of wholeness, wholeness within the individual and wholeness in the individual’s connection to the world. When there is coordination between the body, mind and spirit, wholeness becomes holy: not “holy” in a conventional religious sense, but more of a connection to the divine part of us that exists within. The traditional yoga greeting namas te literally means “the divine within me greets the divine within you.” Very simply, yoga is about harnessing all the various aspects of individual existence and creating unity within. On a grander scale, any spiritual practice or discipline that helps individuals awaken and realize their connection to something larger and more profound than their individual existence can be considered a type of yoga practice.

So that brings us to Zen Yoga. Zen Yoga is a holistic system that unites all aspects of the human self by meeting the fundamental needs of physical health, mental clarity and spiritual peace. It is a spiritual discipline that is vast and profound.

It is Zen and it is Yoga.

The basis of Zen Yoga is peaceful stretching and breathing exercises of Indian Yogic traditions. It encourages going at your own pace and only doing what is right for you. Everyone is different. We come in all shapes and sizes. Learning how your own body functions is of the utmost importance. Zen Yoga is also based on the energized breathing and moving philosophy of Chinese Qigong (sometimes written Chi Kung) and Tai Chi. Qigong is the ancient Chinese practice of breathing exercises that fills the body with oxygen-rich blood and energy. Tai Chi can be described as moving meditation. Its graceful, flowing movements encourage the circulation of energy. Zen Yoga also incorporates the mental serenity achieved through Zen meditation. Learning to calm the myriad thoughts that are continuously vying for attention within the mind allows us to think more clearly and with greater insight. But, most assuredly, Zen Yoga is much more than a set of physical exercises. Through the integration of body, mind and spirit, Zen Yoga creates flexibility, health, vitality and peace of mind.

The pace of modern life is characterized by hectic social and economic activity. We generate stress in our daily lives as our concentration is fractured and our energy is sapped. Exercise is put on the back burner because we are so caught up in all of the other things that are demanding our attention. Zen Yoga seeks to reverse this flow.

Its benefits include:
• Stress relief
• Increased will power
• Improved concentration
• Improved blood circulation and release of toxins and impurities from the body
• Toning and strengthening of muscles
• Mindfulness
• More restful sleep
Even more important, by bringing into balance proper and effective breathing, movement, and deep relaxation practices, we can become aware of and learn to access the natural energy of the universe, called Chi or Prana.

Practicing Zen Yoga is not meant to be an aggressive or rigorous physical workout. Instead, it seeks to challenge you to realize your own potential by stretching, moving and breathing at your own pace. There are no comparisons with how well other people can do the exercises. If you are doing your best, that is the best way of doing it. It is not a competition. It is not a contest. It is simply a way to feel better and better, to be happy and healthy, and to enjoy life to the fullest. Deep within each of us lies the potential for perfection. This potential is spiritual in nature and is often blocked or displaced by the difficulties we face in life. Zen Yoga offers the opportunity to become aware of that spiritual essence and give it the nourishment it needs to grow and flourish. Zen Yoga is not about what you can’t do. It has been designed to be accessible to anyone regardless of his or her level of fitness or spiritual development. The most important challenge comes from within. Most of us are seeking more from life. Unfortunately, life itself often gets in the way of our search. Zen Yoga offers an opportunity to get to know the self…to feel happy, healthy and alive.