• About
  • Contact me
  • Private practice
  • Tarot Readings
  • Testimonial Section
  • What I read
  • Where I am

badyogidc

~ We'll meet at the point our paths cross.

badyogidc

Monthly Archives: January 2015

Current state of yoga

11 Sunday Jan 2015

Posted by badyogidc in Bad Yogi, Life Lessons, Yoga

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Yoga

Interesting title to the post tonight, eh?  Hopefully it peaked a little bit of curiosity.

A friend and fellow teacher posted on her Facebook wall this phrase today: “Dear yogis, be kind to other yogis.  Love a yogi!”  Reading that phrase, you may be thinking that yoga is all about peace, love, and om.  But a different energy has begun to shift into yoga that needs to be addressed and cannot (should not) be ignored.

It’s competition.  Oddly enough, for what may be a group of people that are more “zen” than average, yoga has become a competitive sport.  I’ve had other yoga teachers/practitioners/students post on my Instagram (IG) photos how I could better achieve a pose, many of whom I only follow and who follow me – never having met in the real world.  I’ve had friends and fellow teachers call me out for being a “young” teacher in my short two years.  I’ve been surprised by students and teachers of other styles confronting me when they do not agree with my primary style of yoga – Forrest.

And it saddens me.  Deeply.  What is that about and where does it come from?  My opinion (and it’s just mine), is that it is the influence of the world at large.  Business is about making a buck; yoga teaching has changed from guiding and helping students to making a buck.  I get and acknowledge – as a teacher in DC, I am a small fish in the pond.  I’ve known in my heart there are bigger fish circling.  But rather than setting out to “win,” why not set out to lift?

It’s my goal with the term bad yogi.  We each have our own path.  While my path is right for me, my path is not right for you.  And vice versa.  I get excited for students and friends of mine that go for more advanced or additional trainings, even if it’s a style I don’t practice or know much about.  That excitement comes because that friend is stepping out on their path.  Every step forward on a path is THRILLING!  And should be celebrated.  When friends/teachers get new teaching jobs, I get excited for them because that’s the (non-spoken) goal of most teachers – to reach a broader audience of student.  And when teachers speak down about the day in, day out grind of teaching, I will call them on it because quite frankly, we are so lucky to do what we do.  Having worked in numerous office settings, 9-5 and Monday-Friday, I will tell anyone that listens – teaching yoga is the BEST thing I’ve ever done.  I honor that daily.

What does all that mean?  I don’t know.  Honestly.  I think that everyone – yogis and non – need to do a better job of truly being happy for others.  Of learning that someone else, when they achieve success, doesn’t actually take away from our own experience of it.  And I think that IG yogis that correct my heart opening poses and coach me to go deeper need to know – every heart opener causes amounts of panic to roll up through me that only with deep breathing and a desire to walk my path have allowed me to actually hold the pose long enough to snap a picture.

Intention, part II

08 Thursday Jan 2015

Posted by badyogidc in Forrest, Gratitude, Intention setting, Intentions, Life Lessons

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Intention

This is the unexpected, part II of my New Year’s Intention setting for 2015.  And I may as well be honest – there may be more to come.  Today’s intention was brought to me by a friend, teacher, and fellow dragon Jambo Truong.  He’s set an intention to not complain.  And because I think he enjoys tormenting me, challenged me to do the same.

It scares me for some reason.  I don’t know why.  I think maybe in my current world, with all of my breath and reflective moments, I still take some delight in the miserable.  And how fucked up is that??  Sure, I may “justify” my complaints by saying that I add a huge helping of sarcasm, but at the end of it, they’re still complaints that have the power to bring myself and my listeners down.  Why do that?

Isn’t there enough negative in the world?  Aren’t we all just trying to make due with the best we have?  And what is the power shift if instead of making observations about how cold it is here to change it and instead acknowledge how powerful winter actually is in the scheme of things.  It’s also needed.

So here goes – I’m going to reduce my complaints.  I can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to stop cold turkey but I’m going to try.  My technique will be to implement Ana Forrest’s “Formula for Change.”  The two key components are to catch the habit and to breathe.  Go figure.  Breath.  I think it’ll be pretty amazing to feel my energy shift as I breathe into the positive and to let go of the negative.  Because “the cold never bothered me anyway.”

Subscribe

  • Entries (RSS)
  • Comments (RSS)

Archives

  • March 2020
  • January 2020
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • March 2019
  • November 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014

Categories

  • #nothingforgranted
  • Bad Yogi
  • Beauty Reports
  • Dragon
  • Forrest
  • Forrest Yoga
  • Gratitude
  • Intention setting
  • Intentions
  • Life Lessons
  • Mending the Hoop
  • Photographs
    • Bakasana
    • Yoga Selfies
  • Postures
  • Truth
  • Uncategorized
  • Yoga
    • Breath

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in

Blog at WordPress.com.