I’ve been practicing yoga since September 2000 so some might say this announcement has been building for 11 years. Since I was a little girl I’ve always wanted to be a teacher. Today I will start on the yoga teacher training journey.

My yoga path has been slow but continual. In anticipation of my second son’s arrival, and desiring to be in even better shape using the Bradley Method of Natural Childbirth, I took a prenatal class [...]]]>

I’ve been practicing yoga since September 2000 so some might say this announcement has been building for 11 years. Since I was a little girl I’ve always wanted to be a teacher. Today I will start on the yoga teacher training journey.

My yoga path has been slow but continual. In anticipation of my second son’s arrival, and desiring to be in even better shape using the Bradley Method of Natural Childbirth, I took a prenatal class through the Montgomery County Recreation Program. I remember loving each minute of my time learning yoga. I felt so thoroughly well each day of my pregnancy. Yoga made all the difference. At home with my little ones, I continued my yoga sessions with video tapes for a few years before joining a yoga studio.

Why Yoga?

• When I practice in the morning it sets the tone for the entire day.
• I feel great and approach my work with an excellent attitude. My mind is more at peace and I believe all things are possible. I’m calmer and more thoughtful.
• Although my muscles often ache, I appreciate the strength and health I know I am developing each time I practice.
• A decade ago I had back pain but not anymore.
• I’m much more aware of my body.
• When things are stressful I find myself taking much deeper breaths than I was ever able to do. I take a few minutes to concentrate on my breathing and feel so much better. Without yoga I wouldn’t know or use this technique.
• I find yoga helps me to sort out what is important in my life. Practice helps me identify the situations I need to improve.
• Since I do other forms of fitness such as kickboxing or running, I need the yoga to stretch out my muscles and balance the other activities.

Yoga has become so much a part of my life that I can’t imagine life without practicing. But I have so much to learn! Last year I loved immersing myself in the 40 Day program at Thrive Yoga and I want to dedicate myself to an even deeper study of yoga. I’m not sure how much I want to teach or where, but throughout my life I have felt directed toward helping others and spent a great deal of time exploring the outdoors. Teacher training could bring these strong segments of my life together. I like to share what I know and being able to share yoga would be absolutely one of the best things I could ever do.

Yoga has helped me even when struggling with injuries to my arm, shoulder, and tailbone. Last year I joked that if I taught yoga, I would know all the modifications for injuries first hand! Now with a recent diagnosis of arthritis affecting my upper body, my yoga practice will be a pinnacle point of my therapy. Medical professionals recommend yoga as a treatment for arthritis. I’m depending on yoga to keep me functioning as long as I’m lucky enough to be alive.

Exciting Yoga Possibilities

With all these physical signs in my own body, I’m feeling a great desire to explore adapting yoga for people facing challenges. Often I find myself reading about yoga to heal people both mentally and spiritually. I’m a bit scared to think of myself embarking on any one of these journeys, but I see the possibilities with yoga and I’m excited to start down this path!

Yoga As Therapy:
Compass Yoga is on a mission to bring yoga as a therapy to any and all who wish to make it part of their wellness plan whether they are a cancer survivor, a war veteran, or someone grieving the loss of a loved one. Her story has inspired me and helped set my intention.

Yoga With Veterans:
The Exalted Warrior Foundation brings yoga to wounded veterans at Haley VA Hospital, which speaks of making a difference and sharing the gift of yoga while working with people’s trauma to “find a way out of these hells.”

Yoga With The Homeless:
Organizations across the country have volunteers to bring yoga to those experiencing homelessness. Since I’ve worked for a local organization providing services and shelter, this possibility is near to my heart.

Yoga Outdoors:
Our family loves to visit National Parks and this love can be combined with yoga.  Imagine organizing Eco Yoga Adventures.  But inviting friends for yoga at a local park sounds like a fun adventure too!

Yoga In Schools:
The Shanti Generation promotes yoga and meditation for kids and has been keeping tabs on the movement to bring yoga to schools.

Yoga With Prisoners:
The Prison Yoga Project helps prisoners to deal with their difficulties.  A friend recently started working with a prison ministry in Maryland so this type of program has been on my mind. Helping women gain peace with themselves and their situation at a tough point in their lives would be an amazing outcome.

Yoga and Faith:
Last year I joined First Trinity ELCA Lutheran Church for a “Yoga And Prayer” session.  Using yoga in the context of my Christian faith gave me a true sense of freedom. Being able to dig deep within myself to my strongest beliefs with total abandon was exhilarating. At the time I found myself thinking I could create an even better experience.

The possibilities are endless – an intimidating! I have no idea where this path will lead or what will happen, but I’m sticking my toe in the water.

Thrive Yoga’s Program

Susan Bowen has developed this teacher training herself so the program will be thorough and expose students to the best possible information and techniques from many respected sources. In addition to studying vinyasa more thoroughly, I’m looking forward to delving deeper into hatha yoga so my practice isn’t always about power and inversions. Each pose in the new manual will be described and studied in greater detail than other sources. We’ll also study anatomy so we can better understand how to move and hold positions without injury. We’ll learn the Sanskrit names for poses. My old gray brain could use the jumpstart by studying another language. With a required reading list of nine books and another 10 recommended, we’ll be completely immersed in the history of yoga. As a philosophy major I am attracted to the study of yoga philosophy as taught by the ancients and a modern interpretation for life today. Breathing deeply, meditating differently, relieving stress, and growing healthy will all be studied.

When you can explain something to someone else, you have to really know the subject. I want this ability for yoga. I know I’ll find it difficult to be away from my family for so many weekends, but I know the Teacher Training will be worth my time and dedication. I’m apprehensive about all I will experience and need to learn in these 200 hours over the next six months, but as with all things yoga, I’ll breathe deeply and flow through one minute at a time.

Today Facebook added the Subscribe button and she might not even need a campaign page.

If you want people to be able to Subscribe to your public posts on Facebook, then [...]]]>
Recently a friend running for public office confided that people were friending her on Facebook rather than liking her campaign page. “Not to worry”, I told her, “You are still reaching them from your personal page. Make sure to provide updates they have permission to see.”

Today Facebook added the Subscribe button and she might not even need a campaign page.

If you want people to be able to Subscribe to your public posts on Facebook, then you need to activate the subscribe button on your profile. When you do, the person will be able to see all your posts which you have chosen to make public.

With this feature, candidates, journalists, writers, actors, musicians, and other public figures can now have followers without following back.

Do you even need a separate Facebook page? Perhaps not as an individual, if you are savvy with friend lists. You won’t have to approve people as friends and won’t have to worry about the 5,000 friend limit.

However, you would want to keep or create a Facebook page if:

1.) You desire to create a distinct community.
2.) You need to provide information in tabs, such as contests.
3.) You want to track analytics.

If you decide to opt in to the Subscribe button, remember to post as “Public”. You can change whether a post is Public, Friends or Custom at anytime.

Facebook is also going to be creating “smart” friend lists for you soon based on your work, school, family, and city. This will also allow custom sharing and the new system will hopefully make creating friend lists easier.

The one thing about Facebook that always made it more real is that you both had to agree in order to be friends. The other social networks allowed you to follow people and they didn’t have to follow back. In this attempt to be all things to all people, Facebook is allowing you to “broadcast” as an individual. This seems like a step away from being friends. In some ways Facebook is becoming too much for any one person in its attemp to be everything to everyone.

While on vacation last week watching dolphins by the Golden Gate Bridge, my family saw a young man climb onto the top of a pillar and plank while his friends took pictures. They were laughing and gathered around to see the results. I imagined him level with the underside of the Bridge. One of the boys strummed a ukulele and you could tell they were enjoying a good time together.

When my husband returned [...]]]>

While on vacation last week watching dolphins by the Golden Gate Bridge, my family saw a young man climb onto the top of a pillar and plank while his friends took pictures. They were laughing and gathered around to see the results. I imagined him level with the underside of the Bridge. One of the boys strummed a ukulele and you could tell they were enjoying a good time together.

When my husband returned to work a photo was waiting for him. While he was gone a colleague was photographed planking on his empty desk with our family portrait on his back.

A few days later, I was pumping gas in our Town Center as a young woman was planking on a wall while a friend posed on the perpendicular side behind her. Again I imagined the shot. Her friend was most surely crouching on her back. The girls gathered around smiling and laughing to see the result on the camera.

I was surprised some claim planking has been around for a decade with different names, “Lying Down Game”. Others say “planking” started in the UK in 2008. Regardless, the trend has been travelling around the world for a while. Most of these poses require core strength.

The week before HP7 a friend brazenly embraced owling with a photo on Facebook. That was the first I heard of the craze. At the time, a search brought up only two entries.

A few days ago The Washington Post ran a story on Leisure Diving. This reminded me of jumping in our backyard pool as a child. We would spend hours leaping high in all sorts of poses trying to outdo each other. Now they are wearing clothes with props but the idea is the same. We didn’t have digital cameras to share the results instantly, but I’m sure we would have if we did.

Because it’s fun.

In the Post article, I learned some people are also batting. Since I love our neighborhood bats each night when they come out at dusk and eat the mosquitoes and gnats in my backyard, we had to give it a try. We couldn’t let all these crazes pass by this summer without participating at least once.

Although some of the photos might be taken to show off, what I have witnessed were social events. These are friends getting a little goofy. As long as it’s not dangerous, it’s all good. One man fell to his death in Australia in May so there are unsafe extremes.

Can you do it? That would be crazy! Who’ll take your picture?

Most of the time I don’t bother to respond but I decided to tell her the truth, “No, you don’t have the color and weight of boxing gloves I wanted.” She completely ignored me. No response was given as she [...]]]>
Last weekend the cashier asked this question in a sporting goods store. Many chain stores require their clerks to ask, so I’m sure you’ve been asked it too. What happens when you give a negative answer?

Most of the time I don’t bother to respond but I decided to tell her the truth, “No, you don’t have the color and weight of boxing gloves I wanted.” She completely ignored me. No response was given as she rang up our items.

Now, my husband and I had found what we came to the store to purchase. I wasn’t really intending to buy new gloves even though I honestly think my current pair could knock someone out with their smell. But I probably would have grabbed a pair if the right kind were in stock. The clerk was like a robot asking the question and proceeding. There was no mechanism for her to report what I said to management. There was no offer to speak with someone about ordering a pair. There was nothing, nothing at all.

I shouldn’t have been asked. The company should not ask if they have no intention of doing anything with the answer.

Businesses and organizations need to remember this when they proceed with social media. Social networks are a dialogue. You need to think about how you will respond. Who will take action? What will they say? Ignoring is not an option!

Friends and family have been asking if I experienced a revolution in my life after completing the 40 Days To Personal Revolution program at Thrive Yoga earlier this year. Realizing my enthusiasm during the program, people have been wondering if it was real.

I’ve asked myself the same question, but wanted to wait a few months before answering. Raving about a program in the moment is one thing, but a change in lifestyle a few months [...]]]>

Friends and family have been asking if I experienced a revolution in my life after completing the 40 Days To Personal Revolution program at Thrive Yoga earlier this year. Realizing my enthusiasm during the program, people have been wondering if it was real.

I’ve asked myself the same question, but wanted to wait a few months before answering. Raving about a program in the moment is one thing, but a change in lifestyle a few months later is a completely different matter.

My answer is yes. I’m radically different now.

Yoga

The main emphasis of the program was yoga, so let’s start with a look at my practice. I’m still regularly immersed in yoga practice in the studio. Some weeks my schedule allows a session every weekday, but at a bare minimum I make it to Thrive at least a few times per week. Besides a tremendous improvement in my poses, my confidence in practice has grown. Some days I accept my yoga abilities and some days I push myself. Returning to the mat in the studio brings new experiences every week because the instructors always have a new twist and guide my poses to a heightened level. My practice at Thrive never fails to leave me in the absolute best mood to face all the situations in my day.

I continue to practice yoga more regularly than before the Revolution.

Besides improving on most poses, the greatest gift from the program is the ability to practice on my own. Each week I followed the yoga workouts in the book from sun salutations to inversions. The practice time increased each week and built upon the previous week so I now can lead my own yoga practice for an hour or more. This is extremely important with Vinyasa Flow because it should flow. I don’t have to wait for instructions or be led, I can move freely with my breath the entire time in the true sense of a natural flow for my body. This just can’t happen quite the same way in a group setting. My yoga has been completely transformed by this ability from within and I am much more in touch with my body.

I never practiced on my own without a recorded session before the Revolution so this is life-changing.

Diet

On my own for breakfast and lunch, I continue to choose vegetarian options. We have incorporated several of the vegetarian dishes in our family dinners too. I know the power of fruit to cool my body and bring rejuvenation. During the fruit fast I started drinking fruit smoothies with vitamin boosts and now these drinks are a constant in my diet. When I do deviate from healthy choices, I recognize how bad my body feels.

I can notice the difference food makes in my body more than I ever did before the Revolution.

Meditation

I love meditating in the morning before I start my day. Sometimes I need to meditate in the afternoons and can easily slip into a good meditation when necessary. This ability makes all situations better and easier to handle.

Renewal from meditation is something I knew nothing about before the Revolution.

Centering

Throughout the program I worked on figuring out what I really wanted in my life. I knew the year was going to bring several endings to long-time activities, but when one of the most important of my endeavors was suddenly put on the chopping block on the last day of my Personal Revolution, I had to contend with more than I expected. If I hadn’t completed the Revolution that day, I don’t think I would have been able to be as honest with myself and let a major part of my identity go. Each part of the Revolution helps to bring you to a higher place of peace in your life and I had no idea how necessary my newly-found inner strength would be.

The Revolution is a blessing in handling the changes in life.

Gray

Five days before the end of my 40 Days To Personal Revolution, I had a bad snowboarding accident which injured my tailbone. Not wanting to miss the last days of this program, I tried everything possible to continue my practice. After such physical improvement for 35 days, it was tremendously upsetting to be unable to do simple poses without extreme pain. I couldn’t even do the resting pose. Painkillers didn’t help. I didn’t let it stop me.

On the last day of the program I showed up for yoga practice with Dave who was leading the Revolution program. Devastated by the pain throughout the week I explained my situation to him before class and my eyes started to tear up. He immediately understood. He knew I was a black-and-white person. Either I do something full force or I don’t. I can’t approach things without giving them my all. His pep talk made all the difference and was particularly timely on the last day. From that day on, my Revolution would be in a “gray” area. My mind wouldn’t be totally dedicated to the program and I would need to find a way to weave it into the fabric of my life for the long haul. I could do it.

In the final chapter of the book, After The Revolution, Baron Baptiste explains why you shouldn’t have goals in life.

My goals were an attempt to manipulate reality in my favor (or so my ego thought). My purpose, however, was to be a vessel for good in the world, in whatever form that took. In this way, I could live out God’s goals for me. Really, giving up goals is a high form of faith.

If you look at young children, you’ll notice that they have no goals. They tend to be much happier than we are as adults, much more free and light. Why? Because without goals, they can simply relax, be creative, and learn from reality as it is. When we have fixed goals, we are struggling to force things turn out a certain way. Hence we close ourselves off from seeing what is possible and what else is available to us. We can’t see the bigger picture.

My physical injury taught me a valuable lesson in feeling accomplishment even if you can’t do something perfectly. The Revolution taught me to accept life’s constant turns with total trust.

The book ends with Daily Practices, which I occasionally re-read to remember to live the way I want to live, not react to the world.

Yes, I have had a Revolution, but it means constantly practicing.

Many people ask me about blogging. Recently I gathered my thoughts for a panel discussion on Communication in the 21st Century for professional women.

My presentation was meant to encourage people to write a blog by thinking through the basic questions to get started. What do you need to consider? Should your company be blogging? What will it take?

Here’s a Powerpoint presentation to help you think through starting a blog. By clicking on the [...]]]>

Many people ask me about blogging. Recently I gathered my thoughts for a panel discussion on Communication in the 21st Century for professional women.

My presentation was meant to encourage people to write a blog by thinking through the basic questions to get started. What do you need to consider? Should your company be blogging? What will it take?

Here’s a Powerpoint presentation to help you think through starting a blog. By clicking on the link below, you can either view or download the slideshow.

So you want to be a publisher blogging 101

As they say, “Express Yourself”!

When I picked up Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson, the idea of a spiritual adventure intrigued me. I was looking forward to something new. A year later I’ve realized what influenced me the most from the book involves looking back.

In the chapter entitled “A Rooster’s Crow”, Pavlov’s dog-salivation experiment which led to the concept of a “conditioned reflex”, is used to make the point that our lives are “an elaborate repertoire of [...]]]>

When I picked up Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson, the idea of a spiritual adventure intrigued me. I was looking forward to something new. A year later I’ve realized what influenced me the most from the book involves looking back.

In the chapter entitled “A Rooster’s Crow”, Pavlov’s dog-salivation experiment which led to the concept of a “conditioned reflex”, is used to make the point that our lives are “an elaborate repertoire of conditioned reflexes”.

But whether they are big or small, conscious or subconscious, harmless or harmful, one thing is certain: we are far more conditioned than we realize.

He goes on to imagine how Peter must have felt every time he heard a cock crow. Jesus had told him he would deny him three times before the rooster crowed and just as he finished his third denial, a rooster did crow. For the rest of his life, Peter would have to wake to his greatest failure.

At first I didn’t think much of this chapter, but I became aware of the concept. One day as I was driving, a metro bus pulled beside me and I realized I was gripping the steering wheel tensely. Because a bus had collided with my car a few months earlier when I pulled into an exit lane from a parking lot, I was unknowingly carrying around the turmoil of the accident. Since a bus stop was located in the exit lane, the bus had the right-of-way. I was at fault. I was guilty of causing the accident. Until I read the book, I hadn’t been conscious of the reflex I was having with every bus on the road. Daily driving was destroying my confidence and peace.

Do certain situations, sounds, or sights bring back your pain?

We all have failings and feel guilty. Becoming aware of the reflex is the first step in healing which allows us to go forward and find happiness.

I know of someone who had sexual encounters in the men’s locker room at the gym. He’s struggled with changing gyms and leaving them altogether. With a family at home, the guilt about his transgressions must have been so overwhelming each time he saw gym equipment, even at another location.

We can’t live with such enormous pain in our lives without destroying ourselves.

How can we heal from the small and enormous failings in our lives? Living with secrets or avoiding reminders is a temporary fix. The triggers are still there. We need to find a way to truly forgive ourselves before the pain will leave. We need to break the “cage of guilt”. Only by fighting back the bad thoughts then finding peace and forgiveness, can we be happy.

The build up to the holidays can be stressful without any extraneous situations. With all my might I tried not to be negative during the week before Christmas, but many forces conspired against me.

Twenty-five years ago when faced with a 30-page paper on my management style, I quit graduate school. All these years later, I know how I manage and could whip it out in short time.

Over the weekend, I read Are you casting a shadow? by Anna Farmery at The Engaging Brand. Her leadership tip was against micro managing but it’s a proven method for great team accomplishments. She wrote:

So why do we look for [...]]]>

Twenty-five years ago when faced with a 30-page paper on my management style, I quit graduate school. All these years later, I know how I manage and could whip it out in short time.

Over the weekend, I read Are you casting a shadow? by Anna Farmery at The Engaging Brand. Her leadership tip was against micro managing but it’s a proven method for great team accomplishments. She wrote:

So why do we look for talent and then watch every move they make…we are just casting a shadow and blocking out the light that will help them develop. Plant the ideas then stand back to let them grow. You will see or hear when they need watering and feeding.

You have to like and trust people to implement this management style. To let someone have control of an effort which you deem important is difficult. Quite frankly, I only realized it when I became burnt out when running an organization. I wanted other people to help. My tendency has always been to do things my own way. But I couldn’t do it anymore and let go, which created amazing results.

Now I’m a convert.

In my Cub Scout Pack, my team of leaders brainstorm at meetings and then flood our inboxes with ideas. They’ve been planning the best activities we have ever offered with enthusiasm, fun and … even a pirate costume.

I keep saying that I need to get out of the way and I do. However, as a manager you need to know when to “water and feed”.

• I step in when we have already tried something and it failed. Sometimes you need to pass on your experiences. However, I always frame the difficulties in such a way as to invite solutions. Even though a method has failed doesn’t mean it can’t be fixed and improved.
• When there are different viewpoints and suggestions, the leader needs to step in and make the decision to set the course. A leader has to have a sense as to what will work best and a solid ability to articulate the decision.
• Of course the leader steps in when no one else is actually getting the job done to provide the needed direction and instruction.

But for the most part, I just let them run with it all.

Are there other times to water and feed?