MORE Community Classes + Meet our NEW teacher, Alexa!

We're offering another $5 Community Class on Sundays, 6 - 7:15pm, starting tonight!  Our community classes are a great way to get on the mat when you're on a budget.  Plus, any of the class passes can apply, too.  Visit the class schedule for all the class offerings.

And tonight's class is doubly special because one of our own Mighty Yogis will be teaching!  Alexa Class started as a Mighty student more than a year ago.  She just completed her 200-hr teacher training in Philadelphia last month, and we're thrilled she's re-joined the Mighty team as our newest instructor!  Join us in giving her a Mighty Welcome Back!  Meet Alexa below and join her on Sundays this spring!

MY:  How did you come to yoga? 

Alexa:  I came into yoga the first time by taking an open community-college Kundalini class.   It was out there, from my perspective, we were practicing an intense breathing exercise for about 30 min, and I was exhausted, so much so that I felt drugged.  I thought it was wild, and I wanted more of it.  I eventually poked around in many different styles of yoga, before finding a teacher and class that really spoke to my physical, psychological, and spiritual self.  This was a power vinyasa class led by a professor who was as informed about biology and science as she was about universal consciousness and prana. I took her class for the 4-plus years I was doing my biological dissertation work, going to every single class she offered (5 a week) and then seeking out other yoga classes (and some Pilates) on the side. I loved her for how well rounded she was, for her gift at teaching and for the way she carried herself--as someone who was aware, informed and conscious of all of life around her. I started making a deep internal transition into understanding that I was not there for the physical activity (though I loved this, too), as much as for the mental clarity, internal peace and mental quiet yoga brought to my being.  I was hooked! 

What do you like about Power Yoga?
Alexa:  I like that it brings you into a deep awareness of the fact that you are just like everyone else around you, but that you are also 100% yourself, with a unique story, perspective, and personal reason for coming into yoga. If you are open to the challenge, you can use the limbs of yoga to figure out who you are and be open to that, no matter where you are starting from.
 

How has your yoga changed since the first time you practiced?  

Alexa:  I have become very conscious of the power that pranayama, the life force and breath can have to keep you moving, feeling steady and grounded in your yoga practice and through your day.  Without breath none of us would be alive. It is such a critical thing to try and bring into our over-scheduled, busy lives.  I have also learned a lot more that yoga is entirely about knowing yourself.  Your mat really is like a mirror and it will reflect things you are working through very clearly if you let it.  I love this internal space--the time I spend working on finding self-peace is certainly reflected in how others relate to me.  Yoga just has an unstoppable power to bring consciousness into your life where it is lacking.  I really believe in it as a healing tool and a community-builder.  We need more of that than any of us realize in this capitalistic society we live in.
 

Why did you decide to teach yoga? 

Alexa:  I decided to teach yoga because yoga teachers have really been my support system through the some of the most challenging periods of my life.  I think I owe a lot of personal growth as well as my growing desire to give back to the larger community of life that I live in to the practice.  I have always wanted to “save the world” and have learned that each and every one of us have an aspect of this in us that is waiting to shine.  I think teaching yoga may be one of my prime ways of communicating what my mind-body-spirit knows better than my mind alone.
 

Any tips for someone new to yoga? 

Alexa:  Let it teach you something.  Whatever you may need to know—it is out there.  You have all the answers in you--you just have to be open enough to let them come.  If you are stressed or frustrated come in and let go.  You will not forget how that feels and if you are lucky that feeling might spread through you and heal the ‘avidyā’ (clouded consciousness) that you are working through.  Yoga has seven other limbs besides the physical asanas. Though the physical benefits are unparalleled, you will gain more than you can imagine from accepting the other aspects that reveal themselves along the way. Most of all, be conscious of your own body and aware that you make the decisions about what it will or will not do and for which reasons. Sometimes this is a really important thing to pay attention to in order to understand the way you think with more clarity.

What is your favorite pose(s)?  Why?

Alexa:  I love poses that combine ‘muscle intelligence’ with ‘pranayama’ (the life force, breath awareness) and balance.  Thus, poses like eagle (Garuḍāsana), bird of paradise (Svarga Dvijasana), forearm balance (Pincha Mayurasana) and compass pose (Parivrtta Surya Yantrasana) are poses I love as a challenging way to get out of my mind, free up my breath and focus deeply.  Let me also point out that I study birds, including the birds of paradise. Knowing that I am embodying their amazing grace in a pose is just super thrilling to me.

What do you like to do off the yoga mat?  
Alexa:  That is a big question!  Well, I love making art and finding myself in my art.  I spend a lot of time observing the world, whether it be through yoga, art, or biology.  Things I do whenever I can include, among many others: hiking, swimming, exploring caves and forests, surfing, scuba diving, paragliding, sailing, dancing, singing. I love watching life, including birds among other animals and plants of all kinds.  I love using my hands and feeling the earth.  I have always found great contentment in experiencing weather and the changing smells, sounds, and sights surrounding thunderstorms, eclipses, meteor showers etc.  I love reading a good book. I cook a lot, trying to stick to an informed, local/mindfully produced, mainly vegetarian diet. I love teaching, about anything related to seeing the world for what it is.  I also really enjoy talking to an audience about something I am passionate about and hearing global, diverse, perspectives on life. Traveling is a passion of mine because it gives grace and compassion. New experiences and perspectives provide a perfect opportunity to practice being more humble, forgiving, and peaceful, something I am continually working on.

What fuels you? 
Alexa:  I love being alive and experiencing it all as it comes.  I just want to grow, learn, share, and feel as much as I can!  Seeing people realize they are just like other people everywhere and seeing people realize that life in general should be honored for the energy it brings is such a wonderfully simple and beautiful thing to observe. The ‘life cycle’ and the idea of impermanence has fueled me since I was a toddler playing with insects I found near my hand-made thunder-storm mud-pool in Tucson, Arizona.

Ashtanga Yoga @ MY this month!

In this month's newsletter, Liz shared a taste of her recent experiences at a teacher training at It's Yoga in Puerto Rico.  Here's the full piece for your delight!  Plus she's offering some of what she learned in a donation class series this month.  Classes are Saturdays at 11:45am, and donations benefit the Beverly J. Martin Middle School Garden Project.  Next one is 3/17!  For more info on the classes, visit here.

Opening to the Challenge, by Liz Falk

As a yogi, you’ve probably had that “aha” moment in a class when a pose you have done dozens of times all of a sudden clicks and melts over the entire body and mind (and even soul). You’ve experienced “yoga brain” – that lightheaded, tired, yet energized feeling after a wonderful yoga class that concluded with a more wonderful Savasana.  And most likely you’ve been in a yoga class when the teacher says something like “and now wrap your leg over your shoulder, hook your foot and lift your hips” (Astavakrasana/8-Angle Pose) and you thought, “She said what? Nobody can do that. I can’t do that.” And maybe one or two people around you actually do it, while others laugh as they try.

To me, this is yoga. It’s a synergy between awareness, finding deep relaxation and challenging oneself mentally and physically. It offers endless opportunity for growth no matter what level yogi we are.  The real question is, are we truly open to exploring?

I’ve been practicing yoga for 10 years and teaching Vinyasa Flow yoga for eight. My relationship with yoga has ebbed and flowed. There were months at a time I didn’t take a class and other months I went once or twice a day. And then recently I reacquainted myself with my personal home practice. I started teaching myself new poses I always thought I could never do, and I began yearning to learn more. I wanted to challenge myself as a practitioner and grow as a teacher. So I decided to take an Ashtanga Yoga Teacher Training with David Kyle at It’s Yoga in Puerto Rico.

Yes, of course Puerto Rico in February sounds nice (and the studio was only a block from the beach!), but the draw to this specific training was David and Ashtanga yoga. I had taken a workshop with David in 2009 that dramatically strengthened my practice. And I wanted to learn Ashtanga because of its regimen (e.g. doing the same sequence of poses every practice), challenging nature and focus on hands-on adjustments. Though It’s Yoga bends the rules a bit, traditionally, Ashtanga is very different than Vinyasa Flow yoga.  This is what I wanted.

The day I got to PR, I dropped my bags and raced over to a Rocket II class, an adaptation to classic Ashtanga, with David. I had never taken such a challenging class in my life; Pincha Mayurasana (forearm stand) or Adho Mukha Vrksasana (handstand) seemed like every 5 poses, and in between those were intense binds and twists, repeated jump-throughs, and arm balances. I kept up the best I could but certainly was not able to do much of it, especially at that pace! One ‘exhale’ and people were bound in a position I thought I could never get my body getting into (and many I still cannot). It was awesome. The coolest thing about it, every student was trying something! Maybe only half of the students were getting into full poses, but every single one was trying, maintaining their Ujjayi while they tried, and settling deeply into their pose.

The next 2 weeks went on something like this day after day. We started at 7am with a MySore practice (self-guided Primary Series practice with teacher adjustments and guidance), followed by lecture-like sessions and practicing in one or two more teacher-led classes (Ashtanga or Rocket), ending our day about 8:30pm. I would bike the 2 miles home, make a quick meal, study a little, go to sleep and repeat. I dreamt about yoga poses, oftentimes waking up and writing down several questions before going back to sleep.

On day four, after already taking six primary series Ashtanga classes, I was sitting on my mat waiting for the morning Primary Series class to start and thinking “I hate this practice, I want to flow! I want to do down dog split, and flip dog… OMG flip dog would feel so good. I don’t want to do this practice again.” Exactly what I had gone to Puerto Rico for was what I was finding the hardest thing to handle – discipline and repetition of the sequence of poses. It felt like monotony, like a chore. I struggled through half of the practice.  And then I let go. I started paying attention to only my breath and how I was moving my body in sync with it. I stopped thinking about it and rather gave it just feeling the repetition. Then I was given an adjustment that made my entire self wake-up. By the finishing postures I felt calm, focused and rejuvenated. I was falling in love with Ashtanga yoga.

The magical thing about repeating the same postures in the same order day after day is that it takes little thought. The body and mind know what is coming next and the focus and attention to breath becomes easier. The monotony is exactly what makes the practice so powerful. As one settles into coming to the mat everyday to do the same sequence, you develop a baseline and then start to notice how your practice grows, how much deeper each pose feels from day to day, how much closer to that bind or that balance you are getting, and perhaps most importantly, you also learn to recognize days where you need to ease up in a pose and accept these as wholly as you do days where you step-it-up. To me, it feels like a moving meditation, where I am learning to trust myself to let go of my ego and instead, to listen to my breath and body.

So while my first and true yoga love is Vinyasa Flow, Ashtanga yoga is now my control practice, it’s my teacher. Since getting home from PR I have tried to maintain a morning self-guided Ashtanga practice while then taking Vinyasa classes a few days a week.  Getting up early in the AM is hard, but the ritual is slowly becoming second nature.

“Your joy is your sorry unmasked. And the selfsame well from which your laughter arises was oftentimes filled with your tears. And how else can it be? The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain”--The Prophet