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The inability to concentrate seeps into our yoga and meditation practice more often than we like to admit. As students, many of us simply go through the motions—either moving through our morning vinyasa mindlessly or sitting on our cushions barely noticing when our mind has left the building and is off somewhere cavorting with the “shoulds” and “if onlys” it knows so well.

As teachers we often ask our students to set an intention for practice; we remind them that yoga (and meditation) allows them to go so much deeper if they approach it with present-moment focus. But what does that mean exactly and how does one learn to truly pay attention? Four teachers recently weighed in on this topic.

1. In our Fall issue, Rolf Sovik weaves together two types of meditation practices—concentration (mantra) and mindfulness—to help students and teachers refine, deepen, and energize our practice.

2. In that same issue Shari Frederichsen reminds teachers that we can’t teach our students until we can develop and teach from the awareness of our own breath.

3. Elena Brower and Erica Jago, in their stunning book Art of Attention (due out this November), show you how to pay attention in every aspect of your practice—a gift that spills over into the rest of your life. They’ve created five practice sequences that will inspire you and show you what it truly means to be alive in your practice. They focus on three aspects: setting an intention (samkalpa); moving through a sequence with that intention; and reflecting on and resting in your awareness. For more information, follow them on Facebook. 

Got stress? An intensive week of work can make you feel exhausted, tired, and definitely not excited—about anyone, or anything. We all know that feeling. It doesn’t just knock out your passion to work hard for one day, it seems like it has a domino effect—on your relationships, your sense of worth, even your hobbies and your health.

I’ve definitely learned that about my own health. I was diagnosed with a chronic pain and fatigue disorder when I was 20, and it caused me to consider doing everything from dropping out of college to quitting all the things I loved, just to avoid any additional stress. But after graduating with honors, taking an internship at a yoga magazine, and pursuing several other notable hobbies—I’ve realized the error of my ways.

Just because you think you might be stressed, doesn’t mean you have to quit.

According to Yahoo’s recently-appointed powerhouse CEO (and expectant mother) Marissa Meyer, avoiding burnout “isn’t about getting three square meals or eight hours of sleep. It’s not even necessarily about getting time at home.” What is it about? How much resentment we feel, she says. Or in other words, how we feel about and approach our own weekly schedule and our professional or personal obligations.

Attitude, they say, is everything. So here’s the deal: if your job is stressful, take a moment and dig a little deeper: do you resent your work? does it take away from what you really love to do? Try examining why you resent your job—what’s it taking you away from exactly, says Meyer, and then “protect that.” What does that mean, exactly?

In one of Meyer’s examples, she says that one employee never lets his job interfere with a weekly potluck with friends. You might have something similarly “sacred” to commit to in your own life. No matter what it is, a commitment to your outside life can be the key to helping you feel jonesed abou tcommiting to a challenging project—instead of just exhausted and angry.

Here are a few other ideas to mix it up and reenergize:

Squeeze a 10- to 15-minute yoga practice into your day (at least one or twice a week.) Try Jason Crandell’s 10-Minute Yoga Practice to get you started.

Check out yoga teacher Karina Mirsky’s favorite yoga poses and her tips on how to practice in the shower. You don’t have to carve out an hour and half to feel relaxed. But set a time—10 minutes, 20 minutes or whatever works—and stick to it.

[via Bloomberg BusinessWeek]

Photo (cc) by Flickr user Sydgill

Who doesn’t want to live yoga off the mat? The answer to that seems kind of obvious, especially if you observed the turnout at this past weekend’s Being Yoga conference at the Omega Institute. We all want to be more compassionate, calmer, and definitely less angry. But most of us don’t have an easy time doing that in our every day life, no matter how advanced our asana practice is.

Seasoned teachers like Darren Rhodes and Elena Brower, who visited Omega to give their off-the-mat advice during the weekend’s many on-the-mat asana classes know that first-hand. As Rhodes framed his own anxiety on the opening night of the conference, when he’s not teaching and traveling, he’s worrying about teaching and traveling.

The same kinds of problems affect how we approach anger and compassion too: during her workshop Yoga for a Broken Heart, Seane Corne focused on her personal experience with how you can’t just namaste your way out of a bitter relationship or a heated interaction. If you spend all your time trying to be the most politically correct yogi, the anger or grief or other emotion you don’t acknowledge will cumulatively build and take control.

That’s how we end up leaving explosive voicemails or writing completely over-the-top break-up emails while drunk, Corne wryly noted—because we fail to acknowledge our animal nature, our irrational half.

So what’s a compassionate yogi to do? According to Pandit Rajmani Tigunait in the latest issue of Yoga International, the last thing you want to do is to suppress your anger. Anger is a much stronger form of energy than kindness and compassion and can be a more powerful unifying force, he says. Give his article a read to learn how to channel your anger and see it as a way to experience your own inherent fullness.

And THEN: Share your own story with us. How were you able to express your anger wisely and purposefully? We want Yoga International to become a wider forum for fearless honesty and intelligent discussion.

Also in the fall issue

Try our 10-minute home yoga practice

Discover four simple ways to make the fruits of summer last well into fall.

Learn how to build the determination and confidence you need in an asana sequence to practice the challenging pose Tittibasana.

Photo (cc) by Flickr user Robert Francis; original artwork by Shepard Fairey

Why does changing eating habits have to be so hard? Overcoming old addictions and mustering up enough self-discipline to stick to the new diet can feel overwhelming, no matter how determined you are. By focusing on what you eat and ignoring how you approach healthy eating, you can even create obstacles that prevent you from having a nurturing relationship with food. It’s not uncommon to become so obsessed with eating the “right” foods that your diet turns into a source of anxiety and frustration rather than a way to create harmony.

Here are some common obstacles in approaching healthy eating and how these challenges can be overcome:

1. Problem: You depend on healthy eating to fix everything.  Sure, eating mostly clean, energy-dense foods like fresh veggies and nourishing whole grains will make you healthier. But relying on your diet to make you happier, feel more secure, or transform your whole life can lead to disappointment at best and, even worse, to an unhealthy obsession with eating “right.”

Solution: Instead of demanding that your food transform your life, try eating just a little more healthfully—without expectations or judgments. A peaceful, and self-forgiving, mindset can bring you joy right now, whereas eating only the most nutritious foods in a state of anxiety and self-conflict will defeat the purpose of eating better.

2.  Problem: You are trying to make dramatic dietary changes too suddenly. Not only will this make the detoxification process more difficult, it may cause you to abandon your healthy eating goals altogether, after a short burst of determined effort, and simply return to your prior eating habits.

Solution: Take baby steps. Try to eat mostly plants and whole grains, gradually increasing your intake of nourishing foods that appeal to you the most. Avoid the worst offenders: processed foods, junk foods, sugars, and nutrient-empty carbs. If you manage these two general guidelines and eat with mindful attention you won’t need such zealous determination to stick to your self-imposed rules.

3. Problem: You are letting the advice of others replace your body’s wisdom. Reading health books and getting advice from diverse sources will help you gather information and establish the lifestyle habits that serve you. But don’t allow the advice of the experts to override the needs of your body. Only you know what feels right for you.

Solution: When we practice yoga asana, the guideline is generally to use the instructor’s words as steppingstones while ultimately relying on your inner teacher to fully express your practice. Eating healthfully is similar: the key isn’t to do what you’re told, adhering perfectly to external guidelines, but rather to use outside information to inform the changes you incorporate into the diet that’s ideal for your unique constitution, preferences, and capacity.

In essence, mindfully discovering your individual path to wellness is a lot like practicing yoga on the mat: it’s important and enjoyable to stay in the moment without projecting into the future, to be gentle with yourself, to take it at your own pace, and to be sensitive to the voice of your inner wisdom.

Being “nice” is one of the most notable hallmarks of the Land of 10,000 Lakes that I used to call home. Not only is the population known for its agreeable nature, the whole state is, at least in legend—as National Public Radio veteran Garrison Keillor describes Lake Wobegon—a place where “all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average. “

That’s right. Nice, handsome, strong, and above average. I really didn’t believe that growing up. I’ve never considered myself nice or particularly tactful. And “Minnesota Nice” is really more often thought of as both “Minnesota Ice,” and “Minnesorta Nice.” Some Minnesota transplants have called natives like us chilly. Others just cut to the chase and call us passive aggressive.

Yet no matter how hard I tried to separate myself from Minnesota Nice, I never really learned how to be assertive or to stand up for myself without being verbally aggressive. How does anyone (in the heat of the moment) let go of her need to be heard? Or to be right?

No one I’ve met has any easy answers to that. Old, ingrained habits die hard, I guess. As yoga teacher Sarah Goddard puts it, many of us have only ever known two methods of communicating—“culturally, we’ve been educated either to put up or shut up or yell and scream.”

But by all means, no one should ever be a doormat. That’s what Irene Petryszak discovered—in a reflection on her marriage and how to practice nonviolence, she notes, “I remembered the wisdom of the sage who reminded a bruised and battered snake he had once advised to practice ahimsa: ‘I told you not to bite, but I didn’t tell you not to hiss.’”

That lesson certainly woke me up. Here are a few more tips I learned from Goddard that might help you stand up for yourself, too, in a more conscious, kinder way—without caving in.

In the heat of an argument your first impulse might be to judge or overpower the other person. Pause for a moment instead. Ask yourself how you actually feel, what you need right at that moment, and why. “Typically, when I’m angry or sad there’s something I’m wanting or needing that is unclear to me, or I’m overreacting out of habit.” says Goddard.  Recognizing what these feelings and needs actually are, she says, gives you the power to choose what action to take – whether it’s to ask something of the other person,  ask something of yourself, or simply let it go.

Recognize that communication is a skill and, like anything other skill, you need to practice it till you get better at it. It’s bound to be awkward, at least in the beginning. If you’re interested, try letting friends or your partner know what you want to accomplish. They could become the basis of a supportive community for experimenting with other ways of connecting or communicating.

Still upset? If you feel like a storm is a ’brewing inside you minutes or even hours after an exchange, try to come back to your breath. Focused breath awareness calms emotional reactions.  You can do this by practicing sandbag breathing or breath awareness in crocodile pose, says Goddard, or while sitting at your desk or in any chair.  Just sit still and focus on re-establishing a smooth, continuous, even and deep breath.

Fostering habits and techniques like these might not be the instant fix you’re looking for to rein in a runaway temper, but over time each one will hone your ability to observe your own emotions without reacting.

Looking for additional reading? Goddard recommends checking out What We Say Matters by yoga’s own pioneering teacher Judith Hanson Lasater and her husband Ike Lasater, or Non-Violent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg.

We’d love to keep this conversation going. What helps you get your needs met without overreacting? Add your own recommendations or responses in the comments below.

Photo (cc) by Flickr user  {studiobeerhorst}-bbmarie

Sadie Nardini has an unmistakable presence. She has the fired-up looks of a high-voltage rock frontwoman and she’s certainly no stranger to controversy; her decision to publicize why she was ditching vegetarianism for a healthier diet fueled a massive conversation online about what a yoga practitioner “should” or shouldn’t eat. She’s taught yoga for 20 years, studying with alignment-based yoga teachers like Leslie Kaminoff. While her style of yoga—Core Strength Vinyasa—sounds like a sweaty power yoga class; it’s not. Sadie aims to make “core strength” a conversation much more about alignment and even self-surrender, than about killer abs.

I aimed to find out why.

What do you think the most common misconceptions are when it comes to building core strength?
That core strength comes from strengthening or working the abs—when in fact, the abs are meant more for breathing and moving rather than spinal stabilization.

If we want to stabilize the spine most efficiently we want to look at the deeper core muscles that are found closer to the spine or even on the spine—like the psoas and the quadratus lumborum. Those two muscle groups are extremely crucial to developing proper core strength, but most teachers never teach them.

What problems do you see in yoga classes when that’s not a focus?
In vinyasa classes, injuries are becoming more common, and misalignment in vinyasa-flow yoga is epidemic. I see major mis-instruction happening in almost every class I attend. It’s surprising. Many teachers are teaching from a place of misinformation, so the students follow that and their bodies aren’t moving properly and they get hurt.

A lot of common instructions like turn your hips forward in Warrior I are extremely damaging to the body. Take a skeleton, put it in warrior I, put the back foot at 45 degrees, and then just turn the hips forward, and watch the knee joint twist horribly. When I do this in a class, it’s like [Macaulay Culkin in] Home Alone—their hands are on their cheeks and they’re screaming (laughs) and it’s amazing to watch. But that’s a really common instruction.

Just undoing some of these urban legends [of misalignment] is really my main goal. I think a lot of people see me as this fun, rock star of yoga, but when they get into a room with me they’re learning deep, real, yoga principles.  (laughs).

So how does that kind of anatomy of movement affect our everyday life—why does it matter?
Let’s say your boss really stresses you out. And whenever you’re at work, your shoulders are tight because you’re not in a good space. You’re anxious there. So you end up getting these really locked-up shoulders. Which then start radiating because they are connected to your back-body line, and cause a tight neck, tight low back, tight hamstrings.

And one day in class you tear your hamstrings in a class and you think it’s because of the hot room. But it’s actually because of your relationship and disagreement with your crappy boss. (Laughs) So you gotta go back to the source and correct that [emotional alignment] from dysfunctional to functional. From limiting to loving. With compassion for yourself.

Once you stop putting up with whatever makes you anxious, once you start moving away from the drama, and start maintaining a sense of peace and ease within your life, you’ll start seeing your body transform.

I get that. I just started realizing how much I physically stick my neck out. It’s obviously bad for my shoulders—but I do it whenever I’m agitated, or annoyed, or feel defensive.
I do my own thing. My belly will get really tight if I get pissed off and I can feel it if I get nervous or anxious. It’s a reminder to me that I am not trusting in my own strength, and I feel like there is something to defend or something to lose. Whenever we believe that we start to tighten up.

I think it’s important to have an element of surrender within our strength, to balance our shtira with some sukha. Give ourselves a chance to feel some of that freedom as well as the power. That’s why I say the abdominal muscles are really supposed to be resilient for breathing and movement.

Because that’s what gets tight when we feel defensive—we stop breathing when we feel threatened.
Yes, exactly! I always have students at the beginning of class tighten all their abs and then try to inhale. You can’t. That’s why I tell my students to keep a soft belly, and a strong core.

Do you have any other tips or advice for yoga practitioners and teachers?
I would say 95% of every yoga pose is really aligned before you get to it. It’s what happens on the journey. Most people get into a pose and then start trying to align. That doesn’t work—you’re already in full expression. You’re locked out of your deep core align, you’re locked out of your pelvis.

I think it’s the most lost opportunity for teachers to not understand how to build a pose from the ground up. But to instead wait until they get there and then save students from carnage (laughs) and it doesn’t work.

So I’m helping teachers of all styles learn how to create a pose before it looks like a pose. 

Before they have to give an assist that might not be very helpful?
Yeah. A lot of teachers—Kripalu, Ashtanga, Kundalini, of all styles—starting to include these deep core alignments and transitions write to me to say that they’ve doubled their class sizes. Because students can feel that it’s a more effective method, they’re sore in places they’ve never been sore—people seem to like that—but they know that they’re working smarter. They can feel that and they feel more natural. And they don’t feel the pain that they used to in their joints during yoga.

Other people have other teachings, but that’s mine.

So you want to study Core Strength Vinyasa? You can practice yoga with Sadie for free online—she offers over 150 yoga classes on Youtube. She also offers Online Rockstar Teaching Training.

Photo by F. Holland Photography

I’d always wanted to go on a meditation retreat, but the notion of spending all that time with just my thoughts terrified me. My previous efforts at maintaining a regular meditation practice had resulted in utter frustration. For a Type-A personality like me, meditation became just another thing to get “good” at. And when that approach failed, which it inevitably does (what does it even mean to succeed at meditation anyway?) I pushed harder, and then, of course, berated myself for my contemplative ineptitude. Needless to say, this approach was not working for me. Who knows? Maybe a few days immersed in mindfulness would give me a taste of the stillness I’ve been seeking with such ardor.

Fast forward several weeks and I’ve arrived in Vermont at the most breathtaking location. Skymeadow Retreat Center, perched atop a hill amidst bountiful forest trees, is surrounded by rows and rows of gardens, around which you can find a hive of honeybees, as well as sheep, chickens, swimming ponds, cabins, and even a few llamas. I knew I was in for a remarkable weekend.

It was remarkable, all right. The next three days produced a roller coaster of emotions. During some meditation sits I squirmed on my cushion, cursing my inability to find stillness while everyone around me had clearly settled into an almost trance-like silence. Perhaps I was just not cut out for mindfulness.

But then moments of complete acceptance and total surrender arose within me, and I experienced the most exquisite sense of inner peace. These flashes of stillness may have been few and far between, but they gave me a glimpse of what meditation felt like, leaving me wanting more. After the weekend was over and the dust settled, a few realizations—or rediscoveries—emerged.

1. Awareness is something like a muscle we’ve forgotten how to use. I learned that I couldn’t simply scurry through my entire life in a mindless daze and then sit down and instantly find stillness. That’s like being a couch potato all your life and suddenly deciding to lift heavy weights at the gym. It’s both painful and frustrating. Instead, I needed to build my “awareness muscle” gradually. I learned that I needed to start small, paying attention to the breath or to the physical sensations in my body. No need to force anything. Just like any other muscle in the body, the more we use the awareness muscle the stronger it’ll be, until one day we find that we’re able to return to our calm center even during a very challenging time. Eventually it becomes a tool not only to regulate the breath, but also to create space around our habit energies, our emotional triggers, and our unconscious and reactionary behavior in everyday life.

2. I also learned more about how the mind works when we demand it to be still. In the beginning, it’s normal for the mind to try to devise inceasingly clever or willful ways to resist thinking. When this happens, we must remember not to fight it or condemn it. Just recognize that this voice is your mind. Bringing awareness to the mind’s habits by observing what’s going on is all you need to separate your self from your thoughts. Seeing the mind for what it is without fighting it is the essence of Vipassana, or insight, meditation.

3. Finally, I learned to hold my thoughts loosely, to allow them in. Instead of being swayed by these fluctuations, we observe them neutrally, maintaining a distance between the thoughts and ourselves. Instead of resisting, we embrace and allow. The only way to release thinking is to surrender to it, to soften and yield completely.

In retrospect, as “unsuccessful” as many of my meditation sits were during those three days, each helped to burn away my mental karma, lightening my load of unconsciousness baggage. My first retreat was an unforgettable experience, a way of giving myself the gift of deep peace and rejuvenation. It was a courageous shortcut to unveiling a great deal about myself, paving the way for deeper stillness.