Cynthia Spence Student of the Month and her Inspiring Story

           I’m never quite sure what to expect when I ask people about their experience with yoga. Some people start doing yoga for exercise, others for a spiritual awakening and many of us want both the spiritual and physical incorporated into one. Whatever the reasons are, yoga is becoming an important part of many people’s lives. This month Cynthia Spence volunteered to be YogaSole’s new student of the month. She has been a student since YogaSole opened and it’s a gift from the universe that she chose to share her story, especially during the month of Thanksgiving.

            Cynthia and I e-mailed back and forth about how to tell her story. Yoga is a personal journey for each of us and sometimes it’s hard to articulate what it means to each of us on a personal level. When Cynthia shared her story with me via e-mail I was on the Q-train and immediately took on the role of “woman crying while reading an e-mail on Blackberry.” Cynthia’s story has a piece of everyone’s story, which is what makes it so unique. I continue to be blown away by the peaceful energy of students and teachers at YogaSole. There is a silent warrior revolution happening at the studio in Windsor Terrace.

            I’ve thought of many different ways to tell this story. Cynthia tells it best. It is her own. Here are her words. This month, this year, this lifetime I am thankful for them:

Yoga is important to us because it’s non-competitive, no-cost, and can be done at any age and with any handicap. Each person who practices it eventually finds peace of mind in the moment, and those moments begin to add up and make big changes.

I was not scared in starting, just limited in beliefs of what was possible with my physique. The first time I touched my toes in Seated Forward Bend (Paschimothanasana) I cried. It was this little quiet goal since childhood and I never thought I could do it. What I ended up finding terrifying is the important component to yoga – meditation. No one told me how scary it is to sit with one's thoughts for a specific period of time. I find I do better sitting with a group. So savassanah isn't scary because I just spent an hour with all of my classmates. But meditation alone can a very difficult practice to maintain.

I have a few auto-immune dysfunctions since childhood (with the prognosis was that I’d be crippled at old age and there was a constant threat of blindness in childhood). I developed slight arthritic joint scarring that formed some limitations in movement in adulthood. So my way of emotionally coping has been somatic and I had always been so focused on ‘fixing’ my body and managing chronic and, often enough, undiagnosed pain.

I had occasionally taken yoga classes (and really liked them) over the last twenty years, but it wasn’t until YogaSole opened that I built a yoga practice. About ten years ago, I attended yoga classes twice a week at a gym, and anger would show up so fiercely that I’d often have to leave in the middle of class. Either I was never given instructions about staying present, accepting life as it is, or it WAS given throughout those classes and I wasn’t ready to hear it.

Also, I had a deep desire to have ANY kind of committed physical regimen. I’d look at the people in my life who, daily, ran or cycled or did the gym thing with total commitment, whether they liked it or not. I couldn’t wrap my head around sticking to anything like that, even as I suspected it could be a life-changer for me. I really dislike gyms, and was never encouraged to exert myself.

I joined YogaSole shortly after it opened. And because I had been to other studios I was watching for what made this one so different. Was I the more ready, pliant student, or was Evalena and her teachers building a community of us new yogis of all ages and shapes? Many mornings a week, I got to actually feel my body as I calmed my mind, and I felt connected to my fellow students as well as Evalena and her other amazing teachers.

Anger didn’t come up very often, but tears did. Yogasole is such a safe, nurturing place, with really good INSTRUCTION about observing and feeling and accepting as we faced poses. Because my poses opened up lots old emotional hurts. There was much laughter, too! Every new person coming in had such disbelief about being able to do certain postures, and always the message driven deep into our muscles was that we are where we are, stay curious, use this time to care for ourselves, and be vigilant about not comparing ourselves to others. I think about a year into attending classes regularly, one gray morning I was in a crappy mood, trudging up the hill to the studio. It dawned on me that I had the commitment: whether happy or sad, achey or feeling energized, I was practicing yoga. A nearly life-long dream of having a personal, committed physical regimen came to be!

I remember the first New Year’s day class as another turning point: It was an all-level party/class and I got ‘stuck’ between two ‘advanced’ students. I didn’t push myself to do what they could do; rather, I felt a soar of inspiration for the beauty of watching them in their poses. It was breathtaking, and I did none of the comparative stuff that we can all do. This milestone has been so helpful. Because I then DID reach the athlete’s mental and physical commitment: I DID go to the studio six days a week for at least a year and a half and my cut body was able to do the poses I had seen that New Year’s day, as well as many more. I went on a cleanse and discovered some food allergies. Along with changing my diet and my near-daily yoga practice, I lost about 25 pounds, which is a lot on a 5’ frame. My pains changed, energy rose, life felt more whole. I was no longer just in my head, but in my body. This was difficult to get used to; my life opened up very quickly and I had to adjust to so much energy and pleasurable movement. I was way better over 40 than any age under it. 

Right now, I am not able to take advanced classes. For about a year, too much repetitive pain arises if I do. If yoga was any kind of sport, I’d now be depressed, feel failed, searching for the miracle doctor to ‘fix’ my body so that I can keep pushing towards physical goals.

I now attend the therapeutic and restorative classes – that’s what my body wants. Do I miss all of the awesome poses I used to be able to do? A teeny bit. I miss challenging myself physically. But I realize that my current challenges are to honor my body as it is, to keep doing yoga to feel everything just as it is. And, always, whatever was hurting before class dissipates greatly. If it weren’t for yoga, I’d still be stuck in my head, on the hamster wheel with doctors, fixes, relief for what I had found unacceptable about myself.

As I got stronger, I became softer on myself. I rarely personalize my pain anymore. I’m not THRILLED with it, but I’m not flawed because I experience it. This I wish for others – it’s an amazing place to be. This was a really important part of the yoga journey for me: I had worked with not feeling too much pride when I was accomplishing advanced poses, so now that I do different, simpler poses, I’m not so attached to pushing my body into some ideal that could actually be harmful to me.

I always believed I was a sickly child, and not remotely hardy as an adult. It made me feel different and envious and fearful about pain in old age. Yoga has really changed much of how I see myself, and it’s exciting to know that it will be a part of me and will continue to change many of my perceptions as I age. Who says I won’t gain even more energy at 80 than I have now? With yoga, I get to revel in whatever movement is possible at the time. And I often really revel in it! Each time I step through that door, greet Evalena and my Sole neighbors, I release my physical and emotional cares, reboot my whole system and get my shine going again.

Yoga helps us to be more contented with what we already have, and we’re more mindful of how desire distorts, how it’s fed to us around the clock. Yoga calms things down long enough to help us figure out what we actually need, and sorts out what we truly want.

Yumi Kobayashi YogaSole's Very First Student of the Month

     This month YogaSole was lucky enough to have a volunteer for our first student of the month and we couldn't think of a better ray of light to shine on all of you brighter than Yumi Kobayashi.  I first met Yumi on a Monday morning at YogaSole when I was first beginning my spiritual journey; she was smiling and peaceful and ready to start her morning with some serious yoga practice. We asked her a few questions about her yoga practice and how she came to incorporate yoga into her life. 

* How and when and why did you first discover yoga?

I have been a runner since moving to Brooklyn in 2007. After my knee injury last year, I changed my exercise regimen to incorporate yoga. After trying numerous yoga studios in NYC, I fell in love with Yoga Sole, and I have been a happy yogini every since :)

* What do you take off the mat and into the world from your yoga practice?

Thanks to yoga, I now know how to breath and try to calm myself down even during stressful situations, from braving the morning rush hour to presentations at work. 

* What's your favorite pose? What does it mean to you?

Half moon pose! I like feeling open and balanced at the same time.

* What's your favorite book?

Anything by Haruki Murakami. Growing up in Japan, I have been a big fan of his novels and essays since middle school. I love his sense of humor and surreal Murakami world.

* What's your favorite food?

That is such a hard question since I love to eat! I love everything from Indian food to sushi to Ethiopian. I also like to cook, so the farmer's market across the street from Yoga Sole is my "must stop" after my Sunday morning class with Merav.

* What's your favorite hobby besides yoga?

I love taking photographs with my Canon. Also my husband and I love traveling to explore history, cultures, nature, and local foods of places we have never been. Now that yoga is part of my everyday life, I try to continue my practice at each destination that I visit.  Last summer, my best friend and I drove cross country and we took a yoga class at every city we stayed in! 

* Why do you practice at Yoga Sole?

Great teachers + beautiful studio + community of amazing people = happy student 

The Seed of Anger

       Anger is perhaps one of the most complex of human emotions. Tich Naht Hanh compares it to a Tiger we have to tame. The Buddha compared it to grasping a hot coal. Famous proverbs tell us that anger is like a fire that spreads and spreads until it burns everything in sight. But, what is anger really? The dictionary defines anger as: A strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure or hostility. Sometimes it seems that the whole world is angry.
       At the coffee shop in the morning we are angry about the long line. On the subway we are angry about the commute. At our jobs we are angry about the amount of work we have. At home we are angry....why are we so angry? I once read that anger is a blanket for hurt. Under anger lies hurt, betrayal, sadness. This was the only explanation that made sense to me. We are angry because we are hurt, or we've been hurt, or we don't know how to sit with our hurt. It's too painful to sit with so much pain and so we get angry.
      How do we remedy our anger? We care for it. We sit with it and we observe it. We look deep into the eye of our anger and we hold our gaze there. If there is one thing we don't do, it's feed our anger. But we do hold it. Anger, how are you today? Why are you so angry? You are sitting there brooding like a baby. Come out into the sunlight and be present. Anger, you can't stay angry forever.
       Anger is a closed flower and we must give it sunlight and water so that tomorrow on line in the coffee shop, on the subway, at work, at home we can smile in the face of it, we can cradle our hurt and dissipate this feeling of anger.

In Jackson Heights Queens, in the basement of a tall grey house with brown window panes, the Hindi woman wearing silken white robes asks us to please take our seats. The room is hot and chairs are set up in rows of four that go all the way to the back of the room. At the front there is a great point of light on the wall, a bouquet of fresh yellow roses and a candelabra that has statues of three women holding hands reaching up to guard the candles. The lights dim down and the point of light on the front wall lights up and we, which is only five of us, close our eyes.
"You are a point of light" a recording whispers. "You were born into this body, but you are not this body and you are not this mind." We breathe, some of us deeply, others as if we haven't taken a breath in years. Some of our breathing is light, other breath is heavy, many breaths are sad or joyful.
There is no right or wrong way to breathe, the same goes for meditation. The importance lies in the showing up. We have shown up.
Rumi once said "Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it." We sit and we seek those barriers. We breathe. The meditation goes on for thirty minutes. Some of us have fallen asleep. Some of us feel relaxed. Many of us are perplexed. We show up every week. We breathe.
At 7:00 p.m. after our meditation the Hindi woman in the white silken robes sits underneath the point of light at the front of the room. She does not speak until she is ready and she glows. It is not the light on the wall that makes her glow, but rather an inner light, an understanding, a breath.
She smiles a smile that reminds us of our mothers. A smile so sweet and sad and joyous all at once. She asks us how we are. "How are you?" she whispers. "Did you enjoy your meditation?" she asks.
One of us nods, one of us says yes, many of us are silent. "How are you?" she whispers again.
"Did you meditate? Did you sleep? Did you go farther than sleep? Deeper than sleep? Where did you go?" She smiles as if she has a secret. "Let's talk about the river" she says, "how it flows even over the sharp rocks. How in the face of tragedy it sings, it sleeps, it roars. Let's talk about the river."
We think of water. We think of how it cleanses, we think of swimming, sprinklers, bathtubs, showers we think of the river. Our thoughts are still. "We must be like the river" she says.
"Your task is not to seek for love..." We come back again and again to find our breath. Every week we walk down the narrow stairs at the back of the tall grey house with the brown window-panes. We are points of light learning to flow through our days and our situations, learning to fulfill our task and awaken that which we thought had vanished.

Fall Renewal Weekend 
Yoga & Meditation Retreat
with Evalena Leedy, Ariel Kiley
 & Genno Linda King

Friday, September 14th thru Sunday, September 16th 2012


Revive, reconnect and re-center at this inspiring yoga/meditation retreat held at Dai Bosatsu Zendo, a Zen monastery high in the Catskills. Take the opportunity to regain your own natural rhythm and reconnect with yourself and with nature. Immerse yourself in two daily yoga sessions, practice zen meditation, and pranayama. 
An introduction to zen meditation will be offered for those wish to attend. Refresh your spirit by taking a leisurely walk around the lake, or hike through 1,400 acres of unspoiled forest. 
Enjoy three delicious vegetarian meals,plus snacks, tea and coffee throughout the day.

Arrive Friday by 4pm for our opening Yoga Blend Restorative class and optional meditation. 
Depart Sunday 2pm and return home renewed, refreshed and revitalized.

Cost: $350pp includes all yoga/meditation,
shared accommodations for 2 nights and all meals
*Single Room add $50
*Single/Double Room w/private bath add $75 (limited availabilty)

To reserve your space or for more info contact:
evalena@yogasole.com 718 541-1382

Transportation options: Car Pool (expenses shared) or bus from NYC. 
For more information on the
practice and driving directions go to to
zenstudies.org/daibosatsuzendo

Our Optimum Health

Two years ago I started doing something I thought I could never do: I started running. At first it was terrible. In elementary school I could never finish laps around the gym. In high school I was twenty five pounds overweight. The last time I remembered running was as an eight year old girl on the playground and even then I hated it. So why start? It was something I thought I could never do, and I had to prove myself wrong. At the time that I started running I was in a tough spot in my life. Nothing was going right and I was living somewhere I needed to leave but I didn't think I had the strength to do it. I didn't even have the courage. I read a quote somewhere by a buddhist monk who said "love what you most despise...love what is repulsive to you." That day I bought my first pair of running sneakers.
The first day of my routine I got up at five in the morning and jogged for one minute through the South Bronx, then I walked, then I jogged, then I walked and so on. I felt useless. The next day I got up again. Just waking up and putting on my sneakers proved a lot to me about myself and my abilities to change my circumstances. Every day that I ran I got better and stronger and more courageous. In January 2011 on New Year's Eve, I signed up for the Midnight Marathon through Central Park. It's a four mile marathon to ring in the new year. I went alone in my sweats and the tee shirt they hand out and my number pinned proudly on my front. I still couldn't run far but I ran and walked the mini-marathon. Two months later I moved out of the Bronx. One month after that I began yoga, another thing I thought I could never do.
I always hear people talk about the oxygen bags on airplanes and how before you put the oxygen over your child's mouth you must first put it over your own. This is because you must save yourself in order to save your child. Taking care of myself physically, emotionally and spiritually is a daily challenge. Our culture is always on the go and it's easy to get lost in it all. Yoga and running both bring me to an internal place. They are both meditative and transforming.
Summer is a good time to start to make small changes. It's warm out, the flowers are in bloom and we can't escape ourselves. It's also more difficult to escape the things which repulse us. Instead of escaping this summer why don't we grab a hold of what scares us and start loving what we most despise. This is my challenge to you this month. Put on some running sneakers...run through the park...then join us for some yoga.

Experience the Joy of Summer Practice Yoga in Prospect Park with YogaSole FREE Summer Yoga in Prospect Park (Meet under the Big Trees) Sunday Mornings 10am - 11am Dates: Sundays in July (1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd & 29th) All levels *Beginners Most Welcome  Invite your Friends, Family & Neighbors ***Bring your Mat***  In this class, students will explore their strength and flexibility through a flow series of postures that incorporates twists, balancing, and some inversion. We will exploring the body's subtleties, celebrate and honor our connection to the natural world. Build your endurance through breath, deepen your stretches, and increase self-awareness.   Where Enter at the Bartel Pritchard Lot, 15th St. (adjacent to 15th St F train station). Just across from the Pavilion Movie Theater. Walk straight ahead, down the drive. You will come to the main loop. Gaze slightly to the left. We will practice under the big trees. See you there.

Meditation/Contemplation/Relaxation

     My father liked to play three things: Chess, Poker and Piano. He would sit in the living room for hours and play some of Bach's, Chopin's and Beethoven's greatest sonatas. On Friday nights he would cut the deck for four of his friends and on Sunday's he would go to Coney Island and challenge the older russian men with his U.S./Soviet chess board. All three of these things aggravated his children.
     "Pop can we go to the movies?" we would shout from upstairs. We were met with a silent response and more music coming out of the Steinway.
     "Pop, can we go get ice cream?" the cards were held up to hide my father's face and a cough, a groan, even a sneeze followed.
     Once my father was concentrating on something, there was no disturbing him. He was set on the task at hand. He also took us to baseball games, he watched us ride our bikes, he bought us clothes and fed us. I remember that while he was playing chess he was so calm I felt the only thing that could possibly interrupt him is if a tornado had swept the board off the table, and even then he would probably still have an image in his mind of his next play.
     During my first meditation class I had a panic attack. The room I was in seemed to be getting smaller. It was hot. My mouth was dry. As hard as I tried to focus on my first breath, it felt like it never came, or it was to quick. I was sweating. What were all of these feelings about? Where was the calm in my life? Sometimes in the meditation group I would sit with my eyes wide open and watch everyone else.
     One day I closed my eyes in the meditation group and heard Beethoven's Sonata number eight. It had been my favorite as a child. When my father played that sonata I would dance around the living room with my arms up like a ballerina and imagine a whole theatre in front of me. As I closed my eyes I understood for the first time the reason my father played music, chess and cards. All three of those things for him was a form of meditation. Participating in those three activities didn't fix any of the problems in his life, but they were a calming way for him to accept and get through every day. For my father, sitting at the piano was his time to breathe. Nothing could disturb him because he was at peace.
     When I close my eyes to meditate I still always try to hear my father's piano. It brings a wave of calm over me and allows me to focus on my breath. As I continue on my path through life I understand that meditation is a practice, much like piano, chess and cards. It is an exercise in accepting what is. It is a journey and a lesson that nothing needs to be fixed and we can accept things as they are. It is an art and a window into our most inner selves: the real us, without all the bells and whistles. It allows us to relax and it gives us permission to let go.

Yoga & Meditation Retreat 
with Evalena & Genno Linda King
Friday, May 18th thru Sunday, May 20th 2012

Revive, reconnect and re-center at this inspiring yoga/meditation retreat held at Dai Bosatsu Zendo, a Zen monastery high in the Catskills. Take the opportunity to regain your own natural rhythm and reconnect with yourself and with nature. Immerse yourself in two daily yoga sessions, practice zen meditation, and pranayama.

click here to visit our website Retreat page for more info
To reserve your space or for more info contact:
evalena@yogasole.com 718 541-1382

Yoga Tune-Up: How Mirror Neurons Trigger Healing Even Before Class Begins

This article comes to us from Ariel Kiley, a certified Yoga Tune Up® Instructor with Classes and Workshops in NY & CA – enjoy!

A few minutes before I was about to teach a recent yoga therapy class a middle-aged woman named Fran shuffled through the studio door, her shoulders slumped and demeanor apologetic. I could immediately sense Fran’s discomfort and fear that she wouldn’t be welcomed. I asked if this was her first yoga experience. “Yes,” she said. “Wonderful,” I replied, then proceeded to ask if she had any injuries or conditions I should be aware of.  With her eyes averted towards the floor, she rattled off a list of ailments from arthritis to low back pain to a sprained ankle that was taking a while to heal.  She said she had been to doctors, but they could do little to help, so a friend suggested she try yoga.  I told her that I didn’t know if yoga therapy alone could heal her ailments, but we were all happy to have her and she was at the perfect place to start exploring a yoga practice. By the time she found her seat and class began I could see, that without even starting to address her physical ailments, she was already starting to feel better.
In my experience, these introductory moments are a crucial time to feel out what’s going on with a new student, show that you completely accept them as they are, and communicate both verbally and energetically that you care. In Health, Healing and Beyond T.K.V. Desikachar states, “All that a teacher of Yoga can guarantee, to repeat, is: ‘I can care’. It appears that more often than not something beneficial will happen.”
With the discovery of mirror neurons, we can better understand how these simple introductions set the stage on not just an emotional, but a neurological level, for healing to begin. “Found in several areas of the brain, mirror neurons fire in response to chains of actions linked to intentions” explains Sandra Blakeslee in her New York Times article Cells That Read Minds. Basically, our mirror neurons allow us to instantaneously perceive, understand and internalize the actions and motives of others. These highly specialized neurons are how we empathize with others, why we literally “feel” their pain, shame, sorrow or joy. As a teacher (or human being for that matter), your empathy towards others allows you to tune in to their inner state, and their mirror neurons are immediately touched by the fact that you care. This, of course, is helpful to keep in mind when taking on a class full of students with different physical needs.
My group yoga therapy classes are a catchall for students with a vast spectrum of serious injuries and conditions. In my ‘Yoga Tune Up®: Pain Relief’ class there are students with torn rotator cuffs, severed tendons, fibromyalgia, cancer, herniated disks, sciatica, piriformis syndrome, arthritis and multiple sclerosis. A common denominator I have felt among students living with ongoing physical pain is the fear that their discomfort will never cease.  After repeated attempts to heal, they often lose hope and personalize their pain – exacerbating it with feelings of guilt or shame. Like Fran, by the time they show up at a yoga therapy class they have generally already undergone specialized treatment or therapies, to varying degrees of efficacy, and oftentimes entering the studio is their last resort.
While each individual body may have unique needs, it is reassuring to know that the attitude you bring as a teacher will resonate across the board. As each student soaks up an alternative, positive attitude toward a student’s physical ailment, they immediately mirror it, and their energy begins to shift. As with Fran, they become more settled, relaxed, open and warm. The combined energy of the group can enhance this “vibe”, finding lightness and humor while experimenting with different techniques to facilitate healthy transformation in damaged or compromised tissue. Whether or not the individual symptoms subside, the experience of being in a space where the students feel safe and cared for can go a long way toward relieving their discomfort.
Desikachar states: “It is not the most brilliant intellect that makes such a teacher.  It is the inner capacity to care about someone else more than yourself.”  By simply energetically conveying to each new student or person that you meet, that you genuinely care, the healing begins.

Born Yogis

    "I wish I had a photograph of this classroom." It is Tuesday at 9 a.m. and Evalena has just taught her therapeutic yoga class at YogaSole. "The great thing about this class, is that there are so many different people who come for so many different reasons." It's true. Looking around the studio on any Tuesday or Thursday morning there are a rainbow of students. Some students are seniors and are just starting to move their bodies again. Other students are young athletes who have suffered injuries. Some are students who don't feel comfortable in a fast-paced or even a beginner level yoga class and the therapeutic yoga class works at a more comfortable slower pace.
     Therapeutic comes from the Greek word "therapeutikos" which is derived from "therapeuein" meaning "to attend" or "to treat". In 1893, Swami Vivekananda spoke in Chicago about therapeutic yoga and it as introduced through the parliament of religions to the United States. In the early 1980's it started to gain popularity again. Books began to be published about how yoga therapy could be an intervention on heart disease. By the 1990's most insurance companies were approving coverage and making yoga therapy part of medical procedures.
     What does this all mean?It means that yoga is a way for us to do what is usually difficult for most of us: care for ourselves. How can we attend to ourselves? How can we be our own caretakers? Yoga teaches us to treat ourselves with kindness. Kindness is a strange word, because we usually use this word while speaking about other people. "Treat people with kindness" "be kind" "Kill 'em with kindness" are just a few sayings our society uses frequently. True kindness must first come from inside.
     At YogaSole during the therapeutic yoga classes an interesting thing happens. People who haven't moved their bodies in years, or people who are learning different ways to use their bodies, become kind. They turn their kindness inwards and focus on first being kind to themselves. This takes breath and patience. We were born yogis, we just need to attend to ourselves as if we were attending to a small child who needs us. Often we don't realize that we are the small child as well as the caretaker.

Reaching Towards Your Warrior

"I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I shall assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you."
-Walt Whitman "Song of Myself"

Warrior one, warrior two...what does it mean to be a warrior? A peaceful warrior? What do these poses represent? I've started asking myself questions every morning. It's a good way to find answers, or to sit with confusion and be o.k. with that.
This morning at YogaSole the Thursday morning meditation group met at 8 a.m. On my way into the studio I saw the students leaving with a halo of peace around them ready to begin their day. As I did my own short meditation I too felt the calmness of the morning in my bones. This is when I start to write.
The warrior. When we think of warriors we often don't think of ourselves. Maybe we picture large armies with heavy swords and knights in armor. A warrior might also be thought of as someone heroic. Warrior one and two are a couple of my favorite yoga poses. So much strength must be used throughout the whole body. There has to be a serious grounding in the legs. An acupuncturist once told me when I had a leg problem that it was because I was stuck in the past. I'm not sure how true that is, but Warrior two always forces me to be in the present moment. By gazing forward and grounding the legs I feel like an old oak tree that has been around for thousands of years, a piece of nature which refuses to be knocked over by the wind, but instead, agrees to bend with it.
There is a story behind these poses. The story doesn't matter as much as your own story but it ends with a daughter who gets so angry she goes up in flames and her father is so upset he pulls a tuft of hair from his head, beats it and his most powerful warrior appears.
When does your powerful warrior appear? Here is what I know: we are all courageous, and we are all heroic. We do not need so much armor to understand this, but we have a habit of building walls.  I know this because when I breathe into these poses I feel a strength that I wasn't sure I had. The peaceful warrior cools the fire, eases the flames and becomes notorious. Sing a song of yourself today. You are a warrior.

"I have said that the soul is not more than the body
And I have said that the body is not more than the soul
And nothing, not God, is greater to one than one's self is"
-Walt Whitman "Song of Myself"

"Bodies Never Lie" -Martha Graham

       Ask yourself these questions this morning: What has been one of the hardest times in my life? How did I pull through it? How did I push through it? Is it happening right now? Then look outside at the sky. The dictionary will tell you that breath is an inhalation and exhalation from the lungs. This is true. This is a fact. The explanation is scientific and most human beings have an easy time understanding solid ideas. But, what about what we can't see? What does breath become when the thoughts in our head boggle our hearts and freeze up our bodies without us even realizing it? What then is the definition of breath? It is a reminder of where we are. It is a place to come home to. It is a sitting spot, a not moving, a listening to the parts of ourselves we cannot hear, except in silence, and it is in silence when the answers come.
       Yoga is an interesting art. The first time I ever did yoga I didn't know what to expect. "Come to rest in a quiet place" my instructor said. What quiet place? I have a quiet place? Since when? "Feel your sit-bones beneath you" Ouch, my back hurts, this is so uncomfortable, why can't I stop talking inside my head? Am I going crazy? Maybe I should leave. "Take a deep breath"...and that was it right there. A deep breath. I don't think I'd taken a deep breath since I was eight years old. In fact, I believed that I had been holding my breath since then. How was I alive? "How simple" I thought, "a deep breath". After years of holding my breath, I discovered how hard breathing really is.
      What responsibilities come with breathing? We have, most of all, a responsibility to ourselves. With that comes compassion for ourselves and when we have compassion for ourselves, we can be compassionate towards others. Tich Nat Hahn says "Peace is every step, the shining red sun in my heart." Today, wherever you are, stop what you're doing. Sit down for a moment. Take a deep breath. Then ask yourself, what you've been holding onto. Sometimes, releasing the breath is releasing negative energies. There is no mathematical definition for this. This is not something solid. This is a journey. This is a path with many roads.