I taught a 3 hour Yoga Body Buddha Mind workshop at Tokyo-Yoga in Aoyama.  A gorgeous studio – check it out when you are in Tokyo.  The students were — as always — totally openhearted and open minded.  I think it was a good workshop!  

Here are two of the students from the workshop with me.

 The woman on my left, Tammy, is a native born and raised Tokyo -ite, but she lived in NYC for three years.  During that time she was an avid yogini and practiced at OM yoga.  She wanted to take the OM yoga Teacher Training but one of the requirements is the ability to do Sirsasana, Headstand.  She was told by a teacher at another yoga studio that because her upper arms are short and her head is little bit bigger than that length, she would never be able to do headstand.  So she gave up and didn’t take the training at OM yoga.  When she told me that I felt sad because, of course, she absolutely can do headstand.  There are so many ways to do it, no matter what proportions you have.  So I showed her how to place blankets under each forearm to create space for her head and now she is sooo happy that she can do Sirsasana.

Each group or team was assigned to read the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali.  Then through discussion they were to pick one sutra that they want to explore or that resonates with them and make a presentation about that sutra to the group.  Here is what they came up with — fantastic!

Each person on the Bodhisattva team had a sign on her head representing an obstacle to practice. Anu -- my translator -- was in front trying to meditate.

But it is hard to practice when the obstacles come alive!

....and spin around you in circles!

...and start dancing to Lady GaGa!

But Anu's commitment and calmness prevailed and she conquered her obstacles, becoming luminous and mirror-like.

Great job, Bodhisattva Team!  Next up, Sokrates!

They began their presentation by saying that they have no talent. I like that they all borrowed shirts from Kumi, who is an accupunturist, and are holding spatulas. I asked them why and they said, No reason.

Sokrates team had everyone else get in their groups and then they had us sing together in harmony: Ah, OM, Sukha, Cyndi, David, Joe... it was fun and creative. If we work together, we can find balance and harmony. Then Kyoko led us all in our final recitation of the Dedication of Merit all together. Beautiful job, Sokrates.

Next up, Nadeshko. Miho was the MC for this group which enacted a fairy tale.

Here is the lazy person.

Here is the good, hard working person.

Here is the Noriko monkey.

The hard working person accidentally threw her ox into the lake but the goddess came up out of the lake and said because you are good and honest you can have your ox back and also a golden ox -- that thing she is holding is the golden ox.

Hardworking Miyo is so happy to have her ox back and a golden ox.

I didn't exactly understand the rest of the story or what sutra it was but the next thing I knew we were all up and dancing in a conga line!

And then Miyo, who is also a Zumba teacher in Osaka, led us in a kind of Bollywood dance for about five minutes! And that was their sutra presentation -- great job, Nadeshko.

Honeymoon's sutra presentation was about Purusha and Prakrti and how to become more balanced through the gunas. Here is Shizuka being Purusha.

Here are the 3 gunas: Chama is tamas, lazy boy on the floor watching TV; Yukiko is hyper active, agressive Rajas; and Hideyo is a sattvic princess with a miner's light on her forehead. They are pulling on each other all the time because they are out of balance.

There was more -- Hisako got into balance through yoga practice and then Hideyo's miner's light turned on as she became enlightened. And, then somehow, we were all up in a circle, swaying together and singing We are the World. Very fun!

Smile team -- on the subway. Check out the subway strap that Maya is holding -- very clever.

Maya did a fantastic dance showing us how she was frustrated with all the aggression around her.

Then Fumiko, who you can see from her mat bag, is a yogini gets on the subway. She is nice and considerate and her energy shifts the vibe of everyone else on the subway. The power of our practice!

Then they all did a yoga dance together!

Opening their hearts to each other...

Their sutra was the one that is like the Dedication of Merit: friendliness, compassion, joy and equanimity. Bravo!

First we had to have one more student Final Exam Teaching Class which was done by the Bodhisattva Team.

Here is Mayumi teaching and Yoko assisting. This is the seated forward bend section of the class -- very creative..and just right because it was our last day together so we loved doing partner work.

I take all the classes so I can feel if they work and also the students can pratice adjustments on me. Here I am with my partner for this exercise, Fumiko. Tanoshi-i (that means fun).

Then the box of OM yoga goodies finally arrived, after being held in customs for several days. Kawaii (that means cute)!

Miyo and Miho checking out the cute OM yoga t-shirts.

So much going on all at once.  Some groups were still practicing for teaching their final class and some were working on their sutra presentations and some did teach.  It’s all happening all at once in this room — it is the OM yoga laboratory!

Arts and crafts and yoga and sutras...the Bodhisattvas are busy at work.

Kumi says to Yukari -- Let's keep moving!

Smile team is rehearsing.

Nadeshko team practices their teaching and hands-on work.

Kumi is an accupunturist and she is helping out Chama's toe.

Now it is time for yoga. Kyoko begins Socrates team's class wearing her OM yoga t-shirt since she is a little bit nervous.

Here is Yo in her OM yoga t-shirt, teaching us how to use blocks in Danurasana.

This is it -- a very interesting and effective way to use blocks and belts for partner work in Danurasana.

At the end of a long but very good day of OM yoga TT, I asked Chama and Kazumi if they would join me for dinner the next night to celebrate the graduation. They saluted and said, Yes, Teacher!

First, morning asana class with some fun backbending!

Ardha Dhanurasana has a baby with Ardha Bhekasana.

Hideyo is helping Maya to ground her sitting bones by drawing her outer hip creases down and back. This is a good adjustment for people like Maya who are very flexible in forward bending.

Rei adjusting Fumiko in Janu Sirsasana. And they are both wearing their very kowie -- cute -- OM yoga t-shirts!

Chizuka gives a nice adjustment to the birthday girl, Yuki.

Yesterday we worked on Supta Virasana — how to do it, how to teach it and especially how to make it workable for the many people who find it next to impossible.  Yukiko told me — via Kanae, my translator — that her husband could not do that pose at all.  I said, “Sure, he can.  Let me show you how.  Let’s pretend that you are your husband and I will set you up in the pose.”  I asked her, “what is your husband’s name?”  She said, “It’s a secret.”   Whoa — first of all, she spoke in English and that was a surprise!  But, then, it’s a secret?  We all laughed so hard, including Yukiko.  Why is it a secret?  Is he famous?  Does he have a weird name?  She wouldn’t say; would only laugh and laugh.  So I decided her husband’s name would be Mickey Mouse and she liked that.  

How does that feel, Yukiko? Ahhh....it feels great.

To paraphrase Chogyam Trungpa Rimpoche, Even Supta Virasana is workable -- with lots of blocks!

OM yoga was the studio of the month at NYC’s Union Square Lululemon and it was fun!  

Here is Sarah, me and Margi.  They were so nice to come to the class I taught to support me and OM.  I had just returned to NYC from Costa Rica and I was in a daze of coldness but somehow there I was.  They asked me if I would teach a class for them on the Presidents Day holiday at 8am!  Of course, I said yes — if it could be at 11.  We settled on 10am and they even opened the store late to accommodate the class.   So that was super nice and I tried my best to do a good job.

Here were the wonderful yogis and yoginis at the class!

This was one of the yoginis in attendance and I asked her if I could take her picture because I thought her curled bangs were so cute.

This is the glamorous Sarah Trelease, OM yoga ambassador to Lululemon. Wearing sunglasses as all ambassadresses should!

We had another lovely day.  I taught an afternoon class that went sort of like this:

sitting in virasana, kapalabhati, alternative nostril kapalabhati, alternate nostril breathing with retentions, apply jalandhara bandha and draw the pubic bone and tailbone toward each other (mulabandha)

down dog, knees chest chin — did that a couple times, didn’t need much warm-up since we already had two yoga classes that day and swimming, etc.

forearms down — downward puppy — and into forearm side plank, both sides, second time with tree legs

at the wall:  find your diamond belly (sternum, pubic bone, bottom side ribs on each side) and rub it, try to keep that area contained as you prepare, find the relationship between pubic bone and tailbone as in retentions

Then, with a partner, sit in vajrasana and lift your arms as if you were doing forearm stand.   Let your partner tell you if your front ribs pop out and your diamond belly goes forward.  If so, that means that there is some tightness in your triceps and side ribs and so you need to bring your arms forward in pinca mayurasana.  Use a blanket like this:

Roll up the end of the blanket once. Place the rolled up part away the way and place your elbows on it with your hands on the mat.  When you go up, you will find that you can lengthen and straighten out your spine.  No ribs popping out.  No banana body.  A nice engaged diamond and integrated tailbone situation.

People’s quads were tight from climbing stairs and beach activities, so we did anjaneyasana at the wall, AKA ninja death pose.  I don’t feel like describing that so if you really want to know, let me know and I’ll show a picture.

Then we came back to the mats.  Hands on blocks and practiced jumping through with straight legs.  Then cross legs and swing back through.  Repeat 5 times, or until you get the “swing” (no pun intended) of it!

Lie down.  Supta eka pada hasta padangustasana with little hand towels because there are no belts here.

Back to D Dog, step forward and Hanumanasana.  We were all amazed at Bradley who only took 5 yoga classes before this retreat but he can do hanumanasana.

Lying on backs, windshield wipers.

As requested, supta virasana with lots of nice propage.

Supine twist.  Savasana.

Then we sat up and saw this:

Costa Rican sunset.

We gathered at 7am.  I was the teacher.  It is the first anyone has seen me in public at that hour for eons.  The sun rose at about 5:45.  It is a clear day and there was a rainbow out the opposite window as the one last evening.

Beginning in swastikasana.  The feet are flexed and the shins are crossed so the legs are sort of in a box shape.  Everyone is sitting on a blanket or a block.  

Extend your arms out to the side and flex your wrists to open space between your shoulder blades and chest at the same time you connect the shoulder blades.  Place your flexed palms on the very tops of your thighs and press your femurs down.  Lift your ribs up.  Slip your hands on to your ribs and lift them up with your hands, more lift in the back than the front.

Then interlace your fingers and lift your arms over head.  Inhale and bend the elbows.  Bring your palms — still facing up — behind your head. Reach your elbows away from each other.  Exhale, arms up, Repeat 3x. 

The next time you bend your arms place your palms on the back of your head.  Inhale, lift the chest and face up.  Exhale, drop your chin and elbows, creating a stretch in the back of the neck and upper back.  Repeat 3 x.

The next time you inhale reach your arms up to the ceiling again.  Exhale, and bend the right, letting your right hand come to the floor, left arm overhead.  Then, bend your left arm, placing your left hand behind your head.  Inhale, and spin the chest up to the ceiling, exhale and drop the elbow, curling the chin down to the right diagonal.  Repeat 3x.

Final exhale, fold over your right leg on a diagonal.  One hand on either side of your right knee.  Let your head go.  Let your shoulders and elbows be heavy and soft.

Walk around to the center and fold over.  Roll up. Change the crossing of the legs and do the other side.

After the second side, stay folded over your legs.  Reach around behind you and interlace your fingers.  Lift your arms up — not from the hands but from the shoulders.  Sit up on in an inhale, with your arms as high up behind you as possible.  As you exhale, bend your elbows and place your two-handed fist on your right waist from behind.  Inhale, sit tall, exhale, twist to the left.  Maybe you can join your elbows together behind your back.

Inhale, center, extending the arms behind you, exhale, two-handed fist to the left waist and twist right.

Inhale, center, extending the arms behind you.  Exhale, release the arms and swing them around in front and hug yourself.  Shrug your shoulders and try to get your fingers inside your shoulder blades.  Drop your head and breathe here.

Lift your head and in the self-hug, circle your torso three times in each direction.  Let your head and neck go.

Back to center, keep your elbows crossed but lift your forearms, coming into garudasana arms. Inhale, lift the elbows and look up.  Exhale, drop the elbows into your body and round forward.  Repeat 3x.

Inhale garuda arms to shoulder height.  Keeping your shoulders even, lean your forearms to the right, then the left. Then keeping the elbows and wrists crossed, reach your fingers forward as if you could straighten your arms toward the floor.  

Uncross your arms, turn your palms up and place them on your thighs.  Close your eyes.  Sit quietly.

Repeat the second section of this stretch sequence.

Pranayama practice:

Being by palpating your ribs. Feel the bottom right rib and trace it all the way around to your back as far as you can.  Then the intercostal between that rib and the next one.  Do this with all your ribs and the muscles in between all the way to your armpits, and your collarbone.  Then walk your fingers down your sternum to the bottom left ribs and repeat this exercise on the left.  Come back down the sternum and place your fingertips on your sternum.  Close your eyes and breathe.  Notice if your sternum moves when you breathe.

Fold up two blankets in 4 layers of accordion fold.  Gradate the ends so they are like a ramp. Make the fringe end be away from you.  Sit on the floor in front of the ramp end and lie down.  Reach around behind you and tuck the end of the blanket under your neck just enough to make a small pillow.  You should be like a waterfall, forehead higher than chin higher than chest higher than belly higher than hips.  Legs are in savasana.  Arms are in savasana.

Begin to notice your breathing.  Can you direct your breath into your side ribs and let your sternum stay soft?  The sternum is like a valley and the two sides of your chest are small hills.  Let the valley stay low.  Breathe into the inside of the side ribs and if you feel any hardening or tightening in the inside of the side ribs, then you’ve gone far enough so just let go and exhale.  Do this for several minutes.  

Continue doing that but now we are adding another layer of interest and direction.  As you inhale, draw the breath in alongside the inner aspect of the nostril, the septum.  As you exhale, send the breath out along the inside of the outer curvy part of the nose.  The breath becomes circular.  How does this change your experience?  Your breath?  Your mind?  Your nerves?  Do this for several minutes.

Now, inhale fully and as you exhale, count.  However long your exhale was, make your inhale half as long.  Then repeat this, ie., exhale for 8 and inhale for 4.  Do this for several minutes.  Can you still maintain awareness of the soft valley of your sternum and the tidal quality of the inside side ribs, breathing ebbing and flowing?  Do this for several minutes.

Then let it all go and rest in savasana for several minutes.  Roll onto your right side and rest here.  Slowly sit up, letting your head be the last thing to come up.  Sit quietly on your blanket with your eyes closed.  Feel what it is like to be you…or perhaps not to be you.

OM OM OM