Rise and Shine; Tips for Waking with the Dead

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Every time I wake up at 5 am before a 6 am yoga class, I swear to every deity you could possibly believe in that I will never get used to rising so early.  I’m sure everyone with small children or a shift job will scoff at me as pathetic and feeble, but as someone who until recently had been the usual 40 hour week, 9-5 sort, getting used to getting up so ridiculously early has been a real challenge.  I’ve been taking four 6 am classes a week at the moment and now I feel like I’ve been awake for about four years.  Finding practical solutions to get me over this hurdle has been a real kick in the teeth of my hard fixed insomniac habits, but I’m getting there…

Go to bed early, no Mad Men

When I’m getting up at 5 am, I try to get to bed by 9.30 pm in the hope I may possible be at least resting comfortably if not asleep by 10 o’clock.  Stimulating your brain with tv, the computer, your ipod etc is not an effective way to achieve this goal.  I’m the worst for this, watching the latest episode of my favourite tv in bed or trawling through the internet as I procrastinate before sleep.  Guaranteed, I won’t be able to sleep when I turn off the light.  Read instead or listen to an audio book.   

Prepare the night before

If I have to leave the house at 5.25 am for a class on the other side of town, I would rather sleep a few minutes longer than stumble around the house in the dark looking for my favourite Lululemon sweater.  Get everything you need together before you go to bed.  Put your keys, wallet, water bottle, any snacks, notebooks etc you may need together by the front door so you can simply stumble out of bed, wash your face, get dressed, and head out the door, all in as little time as I possible. 

Never snooze

Hitting the snooze button on your alarm is the worst idea in the world.  Not only is there the chance of accidentally turning the alarm off altogether, you also mess up your brain by settling into a light sleep and I don’t know about you, but that makes me feel worse.  I never leave enough time to snooze because I know I’ll take advantage of it and it will all be downhill from there.

Embrace Caffeine

I know a number of yogis who avoid caffeine because they abstain from all stimulants.  I am not one of those yogis.  In fact, at the crack of dawn when it’s still dark, a hot cup of instant coffee with a little bit of honey and milk is probably the only thing that stops me from crashing my car on the way to work.  Caffeine increases dopamine levels, improves cognitive function and is a rich source of antioxidants.  A cup of coffee or two a day has also been linked to a decreased risk of Alzheimer’s.  So I’m embracing my morning coffee (or two), as long as I keep it in moderation. 

Don’t be afraid to nap

I have never been a day napper.  You know when I’m really sick because that used to be the only time I ever slept during the day.  It actually makes me feel revolting when I wake up. Unfortunately, when you teach two classes from 6 am, and then another two in the evening, you have to be practical and embrace the daytime nap.  I come home, get straight back into bed six hours after I vacated it, and fall asleep almost immediately.  Bliss.

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I Teach, Therefore I Breakfast

I’ve been covering a whole lot of classes for other teachers this week and that included three 6 am starts on the other side of town.  This is a bit of a challenge for me as it is (I am NOT a morning person), but then I also have to wait two and a half hours until the next class.  With morning traffic being particularly bad between my house and South Perth, it’s too far to drive home and come back without going crazy so it’s just an excuse for me to go out for breakfast.  I know, first-world problems. 

Halo Espresso is known for its coffee but I thought it was pretty rubbish, actually, although they do make a really nice bircher muesli (*hands up in surrender, stepping away from the orange pancakes*).  I’ll probably go back because it’s open on a Monday when not much else is, but no more weak coffee.

Gusto Food food rocks.  So does their coffee.  You don’t know what you’re missing out on until you’ve had their house-made crumpets.  They are orgasmic.  Seriously orgasmic.  Their coffee’s pretty good too.   The menu’s as long as their arm and if they were open every day, I’d go every day. 

I was so excited I completely forgot to take a photo before I took the first bite...

Atomic Espresso gets a lot of flack.  They deserve it.  I officially had the worst coffee of the year at Atomic.  Their bircher muesli (I’m having serious cravings this week) was fine but a bit bland.  For the price, you certainly got your money’s worth as far as size was concerned, but I didn’t eat half of it anyway.  I'm not going back.  My coffee sensibilities couldn’t bear it. 

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Comme Ci, Comme Ça: Studio vs. Private Hire

Shortly after graduating from YTT, the reality of trying to find a job as a yoga teacher descends overhead like a dark cloud of pessimism.  Without experience and references, it’s unlikely you’ll be employed as a teacher with a studio, particularly if you live in a city where there is no shortage of yoga teachers (ie Vancouver).  Of my fellow graduates, only a handful started teaching regularly fairly soon after completing training. 

I’ve been fairly lucky to find a studio position early on in my career as a yoga teacher but it was thanks largely to knowing the right people and having forked out the cash to build experience in private hire spaces.  As I’m currently working a fine balancing act of dipping my toes into both studio and private hire teaching, I can assure you there is a very big difference.  I think it depends greatly on your personality and your working style, but one or the other certainly seems to suite certain teachers and both have their pros and cons. 

STUDIO TEACHING

Pros

Guaranteed pay.

It doesn’t matter how many students show up, you will get paid.  Studios vary depending on whether they pay you by the hour, or per student, but in my experience, largely you will be paid a by-the-hour rate.  It’s certainly your responsibility as a teacher to provide a good class and attract returning students, but ultimately it’s up to the studio to advertise the business and build student numbers. 

No responsibility! 

Well, mostly.  It’s a wonderful thing to be free of concerns regarding rent/lease, cleaning, buying props, paying for building/company insurance, etc, etc.  As a studio employee, it is generally just your responsibility to ensure that the studio is relatively tidy and it is locked if you’re the last one out. 

Sick or on holiday?  Covered.

If you’re sick or on holiday, the studio will replace you.  Ideally you need to give the studio as much notice as usual, but most yoga teachers are used to being on call to cover their colleagues. 

Cons

Pay is usually fixed and can be low

Your wage is going to vary wildly depending on where you teach, but if you live in a major city, you’re not going to be earning as much as many other by-the-hour health/fitness professionals. Generally, you'll only be paid for the length of the class, not the time you need to be there before class and after. The studio I work for pays me a rate that some yoga teachers I know consider to be low, but ultimately I’m guaranteed a wage and superannuation benefits so I refuse to turn my nose up at it. 

You may be restricted in your teaching style

I was once told that a particular chain of yoga studios in the US has banned its teachers from leading their students into Pigeon because of the risk of knee injury.  I’m not going to argue for or against decisions such as these, but it’s just an example of how teachers may be restricted in their teaching style.  Some studios have set class plans, restrictions regarding poses, rules about candles and incense, set music play-lists, uniform, etc, etc.  I often find it difficult to keep to the carefully crafted schedule of a studio and find myself getting in trouble with the teacher after me when I teach a couple of minutes past the set hour.  You just need to remember that you’re not the boss, and a studio expects you to follow their rules and their business image. 

PRIVATE HIRE TEACHING

Pros

You are your own boss.

 

Every penny you earn from teaching, you get to keep.  You can decide on your teaching times, class plans, attire, music, etc.  You can do whatever you like (within reason of course!) and need answer to no one but your students.

It can be a lucrative way to teach

When you build a good client base of students who are paying cash or buying sessions in bulk, you can earn very good money for a class.  One of my first jobs teaching in Perth was subbing for a private hire class and I was delighted to discover how much money was being placed in my hand for just an hour’s work. 

Cons

Initial losses can be a hurdle

Hiring my own space and teaching classes has allowed to gain a lot of experience and gave me kudos to attract the interest of a studio owner and other businesses, but so far, I haven’t broken even.  Hiring the space and advertising can cost more than you’re earning when you start off and patience as you build a clientele is a must. 

If you’re sick, you’re in trouble

Of course you can ask another teacher to cover for you but there’s a chance you may have to cancel a class if you come down with something unexpectedly.  This isn’t very good for business and the last thing you want is students arriving at the studio to find that you’re not there. 

Hiring a space can be a bitch

I’m very fortunate that I hire a space where the owner is very relaxed and makes few demands.  This is not always the case.  Local council halls and private spaces are all options but beware the necessity of lengthy paperwork and contracts, minimum hire terms, arguments about session times, etc.  They can cost a pretty penny as well. 

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Book Report - The Yoga of Breath

“Yoga practice is a balancing act between doing and not-doing; we must somehow exhibit all the prowess of the charioteer in mastering his horses and yet remain the same whether in success or failure.” 

The most surprising suggestion in Richard Rosen’s Yoga of Breath, is that you may actually not be ready to practice pranayama.  It’s a brave editor that allows an author to include a statement such as, “What if you discover if you discover that you’re not ready… Don’t worry.  The best policy is simply to let the practice go for the time being and put this guide on the shelf.”  Ok!  (*Places book back on shelf, wipes hands clean on the whole pranayama malarkey*)

I didn’t really put the book back on the shelf but I was unaccustomed to the idea of being ‘ready’ to practice pranayama.  I’m used to pranayama being an integrated part of yoga practice and there was never any concern about ‘being ready’ in the pranayama workshops I’ve attended.  According to Rosen, physical obstacles such as illness, imbalance/tension, and ignorance about our own bodies can all affect pranayama.  Mental obstacles such as dismay, indolence, distraction, instability and fear also affect the practice. 

Rosen discusses in great detail the idea of mapping the ‘gross body’ whilst in Savasana; basically becoming aware of your own body and how it breathes.  He encourages the use of props and supports in breathing exercises both in Savasana and seated.

Assuming that we’re ‘ready’ and aware of our bodies, Rosen details a variety of pranayama exercises including Ujjayi, Against-the-Grain, Zigzag, Slow and Spot breathing.  Also included in close detail is information about the Bandhas and their role in pranayama. 

What I really liked about the detailed pranayama exercises was the encouragement in the use of props and supports.  Attempting pranayama whilst sitting or lying down for long periods of time can be uncomfortable and Rosen’s suggestions for the use of blocks, blankets and chairs support both comfort in the body and the optimal position of your body to achieve affective pranayama; for example propping the knees and placing weight on the thighs in supta badakanasana (reclining butterfly) in order to open space in the groin, freeing the thoracic and pelvic diaphragms.  Where I have the availability of props I’m already incorporating some of his posture suggestions in opening meditation and savasana for some of my classes so in that respect, The Yoga of Breath is very useful for teachers, but for people who are really serious about working on pranayama, quite a bit of time and energy needs to be dedicated to Rosen’s breath program.  As Rosen points out early on, you need to be ‘willing to spend time on another responsibility’ in your life.  

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Rainy Day Beach Breakfast

It's that time of year - one day it's so hot you're sleeping with a fan beside your bed, the next it's ten degrees cooler and raining on your hopes of a morning dip in the ocean.  Today was not a beach day, so if I couldn't swim, I was going to enjoy breakfast by the beach.  

Bib & Tucker is my new local food crush.  I want to marry everyone in there and have the reception on the balcony.  Who cares about rain when you can have panna cotta  for breakfast?

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Book Report - Full Catastrophe Living

 “I’ve had my moments, and if I had to do it over again, I’d have more them.  In fact, I’d try to have nothing else.  Just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of each day.”

~ Nadine Stair (Opening quote, Full Catastrophe Living)

I was distracting myself from a reading assignment by surfing the web (as you do) and came across a couple of articles on a new study relating to mindful meditation and the reduction of cortisol levels.  One article regarding the study was published in the Huffington Post last month.  I backed away from my laptop, retrieved the book I had abandoned, Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn, and checked the copyright date.  Kabat-Zinn’s book about mindful meditation in the treatment of stress, pain and illness was published in 1990.  Twenty-three years later and they’re still figuring this out. 

This recent study at the University of California was designed to show the direct relationship “between resisting cortisol and scores on any type of mindfulness scale”.  Kabat-Zinn’s Stress Reduction Program at the University of Massachusetts has been churning out case-studies of mindful mediation in relation to the treatment of stress since 1979.  Full Catastrophe Living is the ultimate self-help guide for the practice of mindfulness, focusing on the methods employed in the Stress Reduction Program to treat stress and associated conditions.  Kabat-Zinn begins with the importance of breathing techniques and the basic techniques an individual can use to focus their attention on their breathing.  He also details methods for basic seated meditation and also a reclining mediation he refers to as the ‘Body-Scan’.  Also included is a full chapter on ‘mindful Hatha yoga’ as a form of meditation.  Kabat-Zinn says that ‘When you practice the yoga, you should be on the lookout for the many ways, some quite subtle, in which your perspective on your body, your thoughts, and your whole sense of self can change when you adopt different postures on purpose and stay in them for a time, paying attention from moment to moment’. 

I particularly liked his thoughts on walking meditation, something I’d never practiced before.  He states that walking meditation ‘involves intentionally attending to the experience of walking itself’.   This is not easy when you storm about everywhere with intense purpose, as I usually do.  In order to keep the ‘mindfulness strong’, he recommends focusing on just one aspect of your walking, such as a particular part your feet, or the length of your stride, or the movement of the calf muscles. 

A great deal of Full Catastrophe Living is dedicated to case studies; patients who were suffering from stress, pain and illness, and how these mindful meditation practices helped them.  When I say ‘a great deal’, what I mean is that there is really an overwhelming number of case studies which really over-extend the book to a certain extent, and I soon found myself skipping through a number of Kabat-Zinn’s stories in order to move more quickly through the ‘Applications’ section of the book. 

This detail aside, however, I’d give a copy of this book to everyone I know who suffers from stress or could simply do with a little more mindfulness in their lives…which is virtually everyone I know!

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GCYT Day 8 – A Little Light 2,000 Year-Old Scripture Reading

 I could bore you by recounting five hours of scripture analysis in relation to yoga therapy, but I won’t.  That would be exhausting for everyone.  If you’re interested in reading more about yoga from a classical perspective however, you might want to find them for yourself and have a good browse.  We looked at two texts this weekend, the Yoga Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita. 

 We don’t know a lot about Patanjali.  It’s considered likely that he lived in Gondara, a “country in the east” (most likely Sri Lanka), somewhere around 150-100 BC and is believed to be the compiler of the Yoga Sutras.  There is some discussion about the possibility that Patanjali could possibly been a ‘pen name’ for more than one yogi but there’s no concrete evidence of this.  Like most surviving literature from before the ‘Common Era’, there’s a certain shroud of mystery around Patanjali’s texts.   My favourite subject in high school as Ancient History and I learned early on that you need to take the ravages of time, author bias and discrepancies in translation into consideration when shaping your understanding of history and subjects around a text written long before the invention of the printing press.  I was trying to remember this as we did some scanning through the Yoga Sutras on Saturday night and every one of us had a different translation of the text.  I used TKV Desikachar’s The Heart of Yoga, which seems to me to be one of the most user-friendly editions explaining the sutras, but for a more slightly more classical approach I also like Edwin Bryant's translation.  The sutras prescribe adherence to the eight limbs of yoga and forms the theoretical and philosophical basis of Raja (classical/royal) yoga.  It features four chapters; including Samadhi (the blissful state), Sadhana Pada (practice/discipline), Vibhuti Pada (power/manifestation), and Kaivalya Pada (liberation).      

The Bhagavad Gita is even older that the Yoga Sutras, estimated to be have been composed somewhere between 500-200 BC (yes, that’s a big range but scholars don’t seem to be able to agree on anything concrete).  The Bhagavad Gita is part of the Mahabrata which is traditionally ascribed to the Sage Ved Vyasa.  It contains 18 chapters and consists of 700 verses detailing the conversation between the warrior Arjuna and Krishna.  Arjuna has asked Krisha to drive his chariot as the warrior goes to war in the name of his brother, the rightful heir to the throne, against his own friends and family.  Understandably, Arjuna needs a little counselling from Krishna about the whole upcoming ordeal.  If studying Shakespeare in high school gave you a headache, the Bhagavad Gita will look like an excruciating challenge at first glance which is why I recommend a well detailed translation including a good level of explanation between chapters for those who find verse difficult.  I really like Eknath Easwaran’s translation which includes detailed annotation that is pretty easy to read.  

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