I spend a lot of time in warm ups for all my Yoga and Pilates classes. I try to get everything stretched out and ready for the practice. To me warm ups are the most important part of the practice.

Every time I do my practice alone I come to the test: should I change (shorten) or skip warming up. Before I taught Yoga I would just go to the “good stuff” and do that. Now I find myself doing the warm ups for every practice. Its the most important part of the practice.

People will ask me: What should I do on off days on my own? My answer is: Do the warm ups and what you remember.

As I get older the warm ups become more important as does all of the yoga practice.

When I first started teaching Yoga about 4 years ago, I started doing a lot more yoga and my wrists were always very sore. So I began the wrist program which eventually grew into the present warm up routine. An older version of it is posted on my web site for your reference.

Yoga is warm ups and everything else. Try not to look forward to the “good stuff”. Understand it is all “good stuff”. Join the perfection of your practice by coming fully into the now whenever you look at the clock, look forward or get bored. Just go deeper into your bodily awareness.

I find I frequently try to undertake too many changes all at once in many directions and domains in my life. Once a change has been set in place a habit has been established that I want to stick to. But once I have had the intoxication of making a change I want to follow the pattern and energy of change into more changes. This would be unfortunate because the habit has not been fully fixed in place and the changes will eventually go away.

I want to make the change and set that path and stick with it. Any changes at this point should be minor adjustments. There is enormous power in inertia. Make sure the path is the right path, set the priority then once the change has been established into a repetitive habit strengthen it with repetition only making small incremental changes.

My yoga practice works this way. The practice is modified only gradually over time. It becomes easier to do because of the energy that has been expended in that direction. Modifications either stick or don’t and it doesn’t matter they survive on their own merit. The practice continues with the great power of inertia that repetition gives it evolving gradually over time.

namaste

Setting priorities is the hardest thing to do, because to do it right takes a lot of time, is an endless commitment to self study (the 4th Niyama Svadhyaya) and huge amounts of energy.

The best boss I had was able to break things down and prioritize tasks for everyone else just fine he struggled with his own tasks however. He was aware of that weakness and worked on it endlessly.

In priorities we learn from the past, live in the present and plan for the future. (Learn, Live and Plan)

So the questions begin: What is on my path? What is most important? What should I do now? What should I do today?

Where am I going, what would I like to do and what is my bliss.

Ram Dass would look at his planner do see if his life was too busy and if so work to reduce his commitments. He would have to make decisions based upon his priorities.

For me the most important thing I do is meditate. That becomes the day’s first activity.

The practice of yoga and pilates comes next, fortunately I get paid to teach them so I teach my practice. I know a lot of yoga teachers don’t believe in that method of doing the class as you teach it, but I always preferred yoga teachers who did. I felt it motivated me and gave me a good model to copy, otherwise you are copying other students.

Those are the big items. The one shortcoming is making sure my advanced yoga practice still happens.

I also make sure I am aware of the important people in my life and take time to make sure those relationships are nurtured. My marrige relationship needs more time than the others. It is a priority.

Study of yoga and anatomy is fit in after the big items.

Other items are dealt with as the come to deadlines or crises.

Setting priorities is difficult. There is fear involved. The incarnation only lasts so long. Awareness of that and everything else in understanding my life is an endless task. Fear sets the agenda. Love goes forth as awareness of the now.

A couple of weeks ago Rosemary began a fast out of the blue. It was for her health and digestive issues and she liked it.

I’ve fasted before but had fallen out of the practice over time. It is tough to do alone, the smell of food drives you crazy, it’s much easier if no one is eating. So because the energy was there I took advantage and coattailed on Rosemary’s energy and fasted the following Sunday, my day off. Rosemary didn’t fast, but I persisted and fasted for the day and I did it again the next week. I like the way I feel during the fast. The one day fast works for me and I’ve lost 10 pounds, which is a lot for 2 weeks, but I’m a guy so these things happen. I can usually lose weight if I can just stop my normal overeating habits for a while. Lately, however that has been a problem. The fasting changed all that, my attitude toward food and hunger has changed. I can handle a little hunger without problem. I’ve also rid my diet of some of the real baddies like bagels and cream cheese, english muffins and started paying attention to carbs and fat, namely not eating them.

During the fast I drink the Yogaville fasting juice which roughly works out to be 1 Tablespoon of maple syrup, and 1 Tablespoon of Lemon Juice and a glass of water. As much as you want. You won’t want too much, trust me, but it is something.
So there you have it Fasting works for me. I’ll update this as it progresses or regresses.

At the beginning of every yoga class I talk about awareness during the warm-ups, I feel awareness can be trained and improved in anyone. Awareness is the natural domain for yoga. The mind-body connection in yoga naturally develops awareness in the practitioner.

In warm-ups we pay attention to sensation in the bottoms of the feet as we develop Mountain Pose. We are instructed to stop with any sensation of pain, “pain is a red light” and we are cautious with the feeling of sensation, “sensation is a yellow light”.

The whole practice is focused on being mindful of our bodies and the feelings of the various yoga asanas. and allow the body to take you into the now. This makes the whole asana practice a moving meditation with all of the relaxation benefits of being in the present moment.

At the end of the yoga class we are guided to relax the body and observe the thinker to again deepen the participant’s awareness experience.

Ultimately the goal is to bring yoga into everyday life, so that every moment of every day one is practicing yoga. The yoga practice in everyday life is that of mindfulness, being and growing the awareness of one’s whole person. The practice of mindfulness, awareness improves it in every part of our lives, just like exercising makes the body stronger and more muscular.

I feel with the practice of yoga awareness I become more aware of my body and more aware of my surroundings. I feel the awareness gets me closer to witnessing the perfection of the miracle of life and how it manifests in every par of our lives. I see all of the wonderful humbling lessons of life like driving in Boston traffic, learning to practice compassion and awareness while applying the break to avoid the other cars.

The lesson is always the same, more compassion and love for self and others. Seeing that we are all related and that the lessons we get in our lives are the perfect lessons we need right now. No matter how harsh it may seem at the time. It is the same for others and even those you love. Everyone has lessons and we need to let them have their lessons as we have ours.