These three hundred hours of training have filled my brain with proper allignment cues, meditation practices, massage and muscle manipulation techniques. Planning classes seems to flow naturally from within; as I've learned to focus on building the weaknesses and expanding the strengths of the class participants. So if you want to see how yoga can expand your mind, ease bodily pain, and rejuvenate your energy take some time to practice with me!
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Officially a Yogi
After two months of hard work, I am officially a Alliance Certified yoga instructor. 
These three hundred hours of training have filled my brain with proper allignment cues, meditation practices, massage and muscle manipulation techniques. Planning classes seems to flow naturally from within; as I've learned to focus on building the weaknesses and expanding the strengths of the class participants. So if you want to see how yoga can expand your mind, ease bodily pain, and rejuvenate your energy take some time to practice with me!
These three hundred hours of training have filled my brain with proper allignment cues, meditation practices, massage and muscle manipulation techniques. Planning classes seems to flow naturally from within; as I've learned to focus on building the weaknesses and expanding the strengths of the class participants. So if you want to see how yoga can expand your mind, ease bodily pain, and rejuvenate your energy take some time to practice with me!
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Practicum: Last Test
Just as in college, each yoga student had to prepare a final class. Each lesson was dissected by our three head teachers to ensure we had learned proper alignment, safe lesson structuring (ensuring the body is properly warmed so no injuries occur during difficult poses), and were confident in our hands on adjustments (when you manually help someone dig deeper into a posture). Needless to say this scrutiny was intimidating.
Each student had an hour to instruct their lesson and could theme it in various ways. Some individuals chose to do a prenatal class, some focused on meditation, and others focused on quick paced hatha or vinyasa yoga. I chose to do a high intensity vinyasa class. Sounds like fun right? Well when I stood up to teach, on a muggy hot Friday afternoon, the last thing it seemed everyone wanted was an energetic class. However, I was feeling confident and stuck to my plan.
After a little game of poparazzi, where you and your yoga buddy pretend to be a celebrities, everyones mood lifted. The theme of my class was lighthearteness and I traced it through the yoga class with upbeat music and tender words. The lesson went like this: Centering (focusing on breath) - Sun Salutations- Core work (crunches)- Vinyasa- Stretching- Shavasana (final resting pose). By the end everyone felt as though they conquered the afternoon. While my instructors gave me a few points of constructive criticism followed with encouraging, I was smiling from ear to ear and celebrating with a mental track of "Celebrate Good Times" for the test was finally over!
Each student had an hour to instruct their lesson and could theme it in various ways. Some individuals chose to do a prenatal class, some focused on meditation, and others focused on quick paced hatha or vinyasa yoga. I chose to do a high intensity vinyasa class. Sounds like fun right? Well when I stood up to teach, on a muggy hot Friday afternoon, the last thing it seemed everyone wanted was an energetic class. However, I was feeling confident and stuck to my plan.After a little game of poparazzi, where you and your yoga buddy pretend to be a celebrities, everyones mood lifted. The theme of my class was lighthearteness and I traced it through the yoga class with upbeat music and tender words. The lesson went like this: Centering (focusing on breath) - Sun Salutations- Core work (crunches)- Vinyasa- Stretching- Shavasana (final resting pose). By the end everyone felt as though they conquered the afternoon. While my instructors gave me a few points of constructive criticism followed with encouraging, I was smiling from ear to ear and celebrating with a mental track of "Celebrate Good Times" for the test was finally over!
Monday, February 20, 2012
Inhale Exhale Inhale
It sounds funny to suggest that someone breathe. Our lives are full of breath; quickness of breath when we are nervous, shallow breath after running uphill, deep breath to take in the ocean air. We need breath twenty-four hours a day, yet so often we are unconscious of our breath. It comes easily so why stop to think about it? Well breath has the incredible ability to calm you. In our ever quickening, stress filled lives it is important to take time for practices that will refresh your tired body and mind.
The common pattern is for us to breath with only a fraction of our lung capacity. With a shallow breath cycle as this we leave old oxygen to fall to the bottom of our lung lobes. The old air, which was oxygen rich upon arrival into the lungs, has now become stale. It can no longer expel fresh oxygen to the tissues of the body. Yep, you are right it is time, dear reader to inhale some new Co2 to revitalize your weary tissues.
Steps to a little less stress and a little more Co2:
1. Find a quiet place to sit and relax. (Sitting crosslegged on a cushion in a warmly lit area works best. My favorite spot here is a little jungle hideout with an ocean view: see pic.)
2. Sit up straight and close your eyes.
3. Begin to focus on your breath. Recognize how shallow or deep it is, but do not change it yet.
4. Now begin to inhale past what is normally comfortable.
5. Retain your breath at the top of your inhale.
6. Stay here for 5 seconds, before the exhale. (Or start at one and work up to five.)
7. Exhale completely, past what you would normally do.
8. Stop for 5 seconds at the end of the exhale before inhaling again. Repeat steps 4-8 five times.
If you enjoyed this exercise you can find more information about pranayama (breath focus) by reading: http://http://www.yogajournal.com//practice/2574
The common pattern is for us to breath with only a fraction of our lung capacity. With a shallow breath cycle as this we leave old oxygen to fall to the bottom of our lung lobes. The old air, which was oxygen rich upon arrival into the lungs, has now become stale. It can no longer expel fresh oxygen to the tissues of the body. Yep, you are right it is time, dear reader to inhale some new Co2 to revitalize your weary tissues.
Steps to a little less stress and a little more Co2:
1. Find a quiet place to sit and relax. (Sitting crosslegged on a cushion in a warmly lit area works best. My favorite spot here is a little jungle hideout with an ocean view: see pic.)
2. Sit up straight and close your eyes.
3. Begin to focus on your breath. Recognize how shallow or deep it is, but do not change it yet.
4. Now begin to inhale past what is normally comfortable.
5. Retain your breath at the top of your inhale.
6. Stay here for 5 seconds, before the exhale. (Or start at one and work up to five.)
7. Exhale completely, past what you would normally do.
8. Stop for 5 seconds at the end of the exhale before inhaling again. Repeat steps 4-8 five times.
If you enjoyed this exercise you can find more information about pranayama (breath focus) by reading: http://http://www.yogajournal.com//practice/2574
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Neuroplasticity and Brain Games
Neuroplasticity sounds like a horrendous word, but stay with me here. It is the specific neuroscience study of how the brain and nervous system change in response to its enviornment. What does all that talk mean when at a yoga training? Well, it is commonly accepted that once you hit a certain age your capacity to learn is shot. Though it is true neurons in your brain can die, the synaptic connections (the pathways that send information signals to the cerebral cortex-where the brain signals the body to action) can continually be re-organized through challenging active experiences. But if you aren't challenging your mind, these connections shut down so your brain can refocus its energy elsewhere. So, when you challenge yourself to learn a language, take up a new sport, or play sudoku, you challenge your brain to re-organize itself. With these newly formed neuro connections your brain can react faster to enviornmental changes. The best connections are generally formed when we work those areas we shy away from. Such as those who avoid math at all cost, take some time to do a few multiplication or division problems (no you may not use a calculator)!
Specific activities that can help you to form these connections are:
-Completing puzzles
-Learning a new language
-Yoga!
-Lifting weights
-Sudoku
-Scrabble
-Reading
-Crossword puzzles
-Brain games on http://www.lumosity.com/
Your two challenges for today are to find a new activity that will challenge your brain and to answer this riddle: What happens once in a month, twice in a millenium, and never in a billion years?
Specific activities that can help you to form these connections are:
-Completing puzzles
-Learning a new language
-Yoga!
-Lifting weights
-Sudoku
-Scrabble
-Reading
-Crossword puzzles
-Brain games on http://www.lumosity.com/
Your two challenges for today are to find a new activity that will challenge your brain and to answer this riddle: What happens once in a month, twice in a millenium, and never in a billion years?
Friday, February 10, 2012
Back in Action
Cambodia was a wonderful chance to break from two a day yoga classes but I missed two days of one of the most brutal weeks during the training, Warrior week. Even though I did follow the teachers recommendation and worked out while away, I still felt as though I missed feeling the heat with the rest of the group. 
Luckily I made it back on Wednesday to take part in the alignment lectures and to rest up just enough to jump in full power on Thursday. We ran the 113 stairs from the beach to the sand pit at the top five times. After that frog hops, jumps, lunges and crab strides were repeated across the pit. Once that was completed it was time to do push-ups, kip-ups, squats and jump ropping. This was done every morning, save for Friday. Friday morning was a glorious one of 108 sun salutations. For those of you who have done yoga before you know there are usually two or three sun salutations done as a warm up in class. Two or three is no big deal, but when we are talking about 108 you begin a mental war. Yet once you make it half way,
Warrior week inspired more confidence within everyone. The knowledge that you can push your body to new limits and then to reap the benefits is a rush, but it didn't stop there. Some people have pushed deeper into poses, some walk a bit taller, some sing with more confidence and others speak with more gusto. These photos show just these things: chanting class where we sang the Sandscrit musical scales equivalent of do, re, me, fa... where everyone sang sweeter and then Harry finding new depth during our alignment class.
Luckily I made it back on Wednesday to take part in the alignment lectures and to rest up just enough to jump in full power on Thursday. We ran the 113 stairs from the beach to the sand pit at the top five times. After that frog hops, jumps, lunges and crab strides were repeated across the pit. Once that was completed it was time to do push-ups, kip-ups, squats and jump ropping. This was done every morning, save for Friday. Friday morning was a glorious one of 108 sun salutations. For those of you who have done yoga before you know there are usually two or three sun salutations done as a warm up in class. Two or three is no big deal, but when we are talking about 108 you begin a mental war. Yet once you make it half way,it becomes about staying in the zone, a mental space most professional athletes find quite easily.
Warrior week inspired more confidence within everyone. The knowledge that you can push your body to new limits and then to reap the benefits is a rush, but it didn't stop there. Some people have pushed deeper into poses, some walk a bit taller, some sing with more confidence and others speak with more gusto. These photos show just these things: chanting class where we sang the Sandscrit musical scales equivalent of do, re, me, fa... where everyone sang sweeter and then Harry finding new depth during our alignment class. It was a wonderful way to end the fifth week!
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
+33 hours Southern Thai Islands to Mainland Cambodia
The following is a log of my overland journey from Koh Pha Ngan, South Thailand to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. One must note that upon arrival to Thailand foreigners receive a 30 day visa, if one wishes to stay longer they must cross the border to obtain a new visa. With this fact in mind, I will commence. (It is quite a lengthy post yet the delight is in the details of the trip only Asia can provide.)
Wednesday, January 1
9:00am- Post yoga class mental exclamation, "Oh no! I have to do my visa run this weekend."
9:07am- Head Instructor Ashton explains, "Nikki, you can cross by land but you will only get 15 days, same same at the Samui consulate. So why not fly back in from Malaysia or Cambodia and then you can get the full 30 days rather then doing two border runs?"
9:09am- "Ok, I'll look into it."
3:30pm- After two hours of thorough internet research checking on a consulate trip to Samui, overland routes that include multiple vans and boats to Malaysia and Cambodia my head is dizzy. "Maybe I should just ask the travel agent," I finally conceed.
4:45pm- I purchase the only necessary flight from Phnom Penh, Cambodia to Bangkok, Thailand. This allows for a new 30 day visa yet it is only a small leg of the trip. So I purchase a travel package from Pha Ngan to Phnom Pehn.
Thursday, January 2
9:30am- After morning yoga class, I tell teachers I will depart today.
11:05am- Leave anatomy class on alignment.
11:45am- Arrive by taxi to Tong Sala Pier and wait for the boat in a monsooning rain. Picture 130 plus sweating tourists with heavy hiking packs crammed beneath a six foot by three foot awning.
3:13pm-Realize this boat was only the first of two I must take to get to the mainland.
3:15pm- Step outside the VIP room (aka a sauna of a room that has actual seats to sit down upon) to catch some Thailand rays, yet I promptly return when throngs of more tourists board the vessel.
3:27pm- Fake Ray-Bans bite the dust, yet this sorrowful moment is quicky wisked away after seeing a cute old tourist and his wife reading their large map with a magnifying glass. This is only half of my internal laughter because in the same moment this is happening a Thai tourguide is harrassing two Chinese girls about taking a dive trip. Quite a normal scene yet I couldn't help but laugh when they finally admitted they had no interest since they cannot swim.
12:12pm- Arrive at the Thailand/Cambodia border, well nearly there. I must hop on a moto then cross by foot, only after buying a sketchy visa from two Thai guys that speak to me in a mix of French and English.
Wednesday, January 1
9:00am- Post yoga class mental exclamation, "Oh no! I have to do my visa run this weekend."
9:07am- Head Instructor Ashton explains, "Nikki, you can cross by land but you will only get 15 days, same same at the Samui consulate. So why not fly back in from Malaysia or Cambodia and then you can get the full 30 days rather then doing two border runs?"
9:09am- "Ok, I'll look into it."
3:30pm- After two hours of thorough internet research checking on a consulate trip to Samui, overland routes that include multiple vans and boats to Malaysia and Cambodia my head is dizzy. "Maybe I should just ask the travel agent," I finally conceed.
4:45pm- I purchase the only necessary flight from Phnom Penh, Cambodia to Bangkok, Thailand. This allows for a new 30 day visa yet it is only a small leg of the trip. So I purchase a travel package from Pha Ngan to Phnom Pehn.
Thursday, January 2
9:30am- After morning yoga class, I tell teachers I will depart today.
11:05am- Leave anatomy class on alignment.
11:45am- Arrive by taxi to Tong Sala Pier and wait for the boat in a monsooning rain. Picture 130 plus sweating tourists with heavy hiking packs crammed beneath a six foot by three foot awning.
3:13pm-Realize this boat was only the first of two I must take to get to the mainland.
3:15pm- Step outside the VIP room (aka a sauna of a room that has actual seats to sit down upon) to catch some Thailand rays, yet I promptly return when throngs of more tourists board the vessel.
3:27pm- Fake Ray-Bans bite the dust, yet this sorrowful moment is quicky wisked away after seeing a cute old tourist and his wife reading their large map with a magnifying glass. This is only half of my internal laughter because in the same moment this is happening a Thai tourguide is harrassing two Chinese girls about taking a dive trip. Quite a normal scene yet I couldn't help but laugh when they finally admitted they had no interest since they cannot swim.
5:38pm- "I spy land."
6:50pm- Spill the last third of my pad thai all over my shirt and jeans. Perfect.
7:37pm- First bus to Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand. Maybe we will arrive at 5am?
Friday, January 3
3:30am- Wake up from a heavy slumber to the bus driver shouting, "Bangkok, Bangkok, Bangkok."
3:39am- After haggling with a tuk tuk driver I climb in and we speed off to Khao San Road where the last of the sleezy bar dwellers are offering up their insides to the city sewers.
3:49am- Convince two hotel front desk ladies to let me use a vacant room to shower in.
4:45am-I have to mentally justify the terrible thing I will now do. "May I have a hot coffee and a large fry please," I cowardly ask the McDonald's staff. (Listen, it is the ONLY place open 24 hours, save for the convience store and they didn't have chairs! And I did use that time to write my first yoga class outline.)
7:17am-After two failed attempts at finding my bus stop, a quick pop into the internet cafe and a lovely chat with a German yogi, I find my next ride.
8:07am- Having curls pays off, or maybe not, cause I get to sit next to the driver. Yes, he is picking his nose and eating it, but at least this seat has air conditioning and arm room.
8:40am- Smile and laugh as my driver turns a two land road into a three land road to pass an accident. Nothing new to see here.
9:12am-Stop for petrol and coffee. See orange clad monks chain smoking cigarettes and chatting hurridly away on their cell phones.
9:17am-Remember to buckle up as the driver accelerates to breakneck speeds. "I'm the first to go," I think.
9:30am- Recognize the picture on thai signs flying by as betta fish (aka Siamese fighting fish which are indigenous to Thai rice paddies).
12:12pm- Arrive at the Thailand/Cambodia border, well nearly there. I must hop on a moto then cross by foot, only after buying a sketchy visa from two Thai guys that speak to me in a mix of French and English. 12:45pm Wait to immigrate to Kampuchea.
1:42pm-Last to arrive on the bus bound (fingers crossed) to Phnom Pehn. Thankfully they wait for the white people.
2:50pm-See a pony pulling a cart.
8:00pm- Dillusion is beginning to set in from cramping legs, arms, wrists, butt, etc... Each lighted roadside stand is one more dashed hope that the city is impending.
8:13pm- Teach the 28-year old Cambodian father of two next to me wrist stretches. Then we discuss yoga and meditation and the benefits of both.
8:45pm-View the family photos of my new friend.
9:37pm-Arrive in the city!
10:03pm- Bus finally stops and I must push back the tuk-tuk drivers with verbal shouts of "moment moment".
10:07pm-My tuk-tuk driver gets lost. I can't help but laugh, this would happen.
10:18pm- Yell to the unassuming balcony I pray to God my friends live in.
10:19pm- Heads appear a few stories up. "Finally!" I exclaim.
10:37pm-Crash into a deep sleep.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
The Lows to Which an Addict Will Stoop
[If you don't know by now many of my posts are lighthearted some tounge in cheek and at times educational. This one is meant to be funny, so please proceed with that in mind. ]
Let's face it, Seattlites love coffee. Every morning I can't help but earnestly seek out some java. Iced or hot, sweet or bitter, strong or really strong. Admittedly, sometimes it is my motivation to crawl into bed at an early hour, so the morning comes a little sooner. There are times where I plan out my whole day on what coffee shop I hope to sip a piping hot latte from.
You can take a coffee-addicted Pacific Northwesterner out of the Pacific but you can't shake the addict out. The addict will adapt, like the eyes of a night owl to the darkness, to find the grounds for that cuppa' jo. Even when traveling, he or she will sense just how to aquire the rich liquid within mere hours of being relocated.
Yet when coffee isn't so cost effective at the new place of residence, what's one to do?
Give it up right? Yes! ...if you have the self-control to do so this would be a very logical choice. Or you could go with option numero dos and opt for some Nescafe. That's right, I said it, Nescafe. Please find it in your heart fellow coffee snobs to forgive me this ill. It's either a cup of these sharp instant grounds or weeks of zombie mornings, hellish headaches, and a blurry mind.
The following is my love letter to Nescafe. Yup, that's right.
To my dearest Nescafe:
Nescafe you are the low to which this addict will stoop. Your darkened goodness and bitter taste are welcomed allies of my morning battle. Hot or cold, only Katy Perry distains, but for you my heart will remain. Please see me through.
So much love, Nikki
Let's face it, Seattlites love coffee. Every morning I can't help but earnestly seek out some java. Iced or hot, sweet or bitter, strong or really strong. Admittedly, sometimes it is my motivation to crawl into bed at an early hour, so the morning comes a little sooner. There are times where I plan out my whole day on what coffee shop I hope to sip a piping hot latte from.
You can take a coffee-addicted Pacific Northwesterner out of the Pacific but you can't shake the addict out. The addict will adapt, like the eyes of a night owl to the darkness, to find the grounds for that cuppa' jo. Even when traveling, he or she will sense just how to aquire the rich liquid within mere hours of being relocated.
Yet when coffee isn't so cost effective at the new place of residence, what's one to do?
Give it up right? Yes! ...if you have the self-control to do so this would be a very logical choice. Or you could go with option numero dos and opt for some Nescafe. That's right, I said it, Nescafe. Please find it in your heart fellow coffee snobs to forgive me this ill. It's either a cup of these sharp instant grounds or weeks of zombie mornings, hellish headaches, and a blurry mind.The following is my love letter to Nescafe. Yup, that's right.
To my dearest Nescafe:
Nescafe you are the low to which this addict will stoop. Your darkened goodness and bitter taste are welcomed allies of my morning battle. Hot or cold, only Katy Perry distains, but for you my heart will remain. Please see me through.
So much love, Nikki
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