A Promised Poem

Two beautiful workshops last weekend. I am so grateful that I have the opportunity and ability to do this work, and thanks to Janet Green Garrison of Yoga for Health in Gloucester, MA, and to Chip Hartranft of the Arlington Center for hosting me and gathering their communities.
I find the people I meet through this very sweet and very brave. To do the work of holding what’s uncomfortable up to the light and examining it without judgement, and with compassion is big stuff, and perhaps the very essence of developing conscious awareness. Thanks to all to came & participated, and I hope to continue to share your journey.
I did make a couple promises, and one was to share this writing from Swami Kripalvanandaji, the beloved spiritual leader of early Kripalu. Here it is:

My beloved child,

break your heart no longer.

Each time you judge yourself,

you break your own heart.

You stop feeding on the love

wheich is the wellspring of you vitality.

The time has come. Your time.

To live.

To celebrate.

And to see the goodness that you are.

You my child, are divine.

You are pure.

You are sublimely free.

You are God in disguise.

And you are always perfectly safe.

Do not fight the dark.

Just turn on the light.

Let go,

and breathe into the goodness that you are.

I’ve also promised to post my slides from the talk. Soon come.
Be well.
Annie

Share your story

I am looking people to share their story for two projects that I’m working on:
1) If you live in the Boston area, and have used conscious eating as part of your weight managing lifestyle, I would love to connect with you. There is a new, very cool sounding TV program about alternative health, and we’ve been talking about doing a piece on conscious eating. Email me if this sounds like you.
2) For a new website that has the goal of supporting people interested in launching a positive life change, I am looking for a few people to e-interview about the first 30 days of a new weight-management program – what you experienced, and advice for others taking the plunge. Again, shoot me an email if you’re willing to share.
Thanks!
Annie

Therapeutic Yoga's Organic Evolutions

The first Symposium on Yoga Therapy and Research (SYTAR), organized by the International Association of Yoga Therapy (IAYT), was held January 18-21 in Los Angeles. It was a gathering of yogis and yoginis, medical professionals, researchers, and those who develop and sell products to the aforementioned groups.

First off, by any measure, this conference was a great success. It sold out very quickly – I spoke to many yogis who’d wanted to go but hadn’t acted quickly enough. I believe that many yoga teachers across the country are witnessing the therapeutic possibilities of yoga in their own clientele. So the topic is ripe for discussion. And, I believe the organizers of the conference approached the frankly impossible task of finding common ground between the scientific community (the quantifiers), and the yogic spiritual practitioners and teachers (the revelers in the unknowable).
I love yoga conferences. I love to be around dedicated yoga teacher-practitioners. They put out a great vibe – as one woman said to me in the bathroom “who ARE you people? – it feels so good to be around you!” (she was attending a community college meeting in the same hotel). I was moved and ticked to attend scientific sessions that were launched with the chanting of ohm. Somehow, that both made the information presented resonate, and reminded me not to take it too seriously.
Many of the presenters provided outlines of their talks, and some of these may be helpful to yoga practitioners who were not able to attend. You can find a range of download able pdf-outlines of sessions and of breakouts at the IAYT website. You can find additional information from some of the presenters websites – those I attended who’s website info was helpful to me include Matthew Taylor PhD, PT, Amy Weintraub, Leslie Kaminoff who’s an impressively active blogger and Larry Payne PhD. Another blog that would be of interest to those of you thinking about the integrative therapies like yoga is The Integrator, John Week’s blog. I’ll do more features on some of these and other excellent practitioners I met at SYTAR.
I’ve been back from the conference for a couple weeks now, and the initial impressions have ruminated a bit. There has also been some rumblings and feedback from other attendees of the conference. A feast for thought came out of this meeting. A natural topic for this group was the development of standards for yoga therapists, and moving toward reimbursement and licensure. There were a number of warnings from clinicians (Chiropractors, PTs, RNs) that moving in that way will definitely result in more oversight, less creativity and time per client, and probably a reduction in pay scale for the yoga provider. Even as a clinician myself (I’m a Registered Dietitian), I came away thinking that perhaps moving toward licensure and reimbursement was not a good idea for the yoga community.
Feedback from the conference which I found fascinating was Megan McDonough’s observation that while most of the attendees were female, most of the presenters were male. The Kripalu Yoga Teacher’s Association listserv had a richer discussion, but you can get the cliffnotes on eSutra. It was a very male-dominated meeting, which I at first thought was indicative of more linear scientific nature of the topic. But then I thought perhaps it was because of the clique of PdD male yoga teachers who seem to have dominated the conversation – there are definitely master level, PhD-level yoga teacher/researchers out there, so yep, this should change next year. And it seems that feedback has been received by the organizers too.
All in all, a great effort, a beautiful dialogue. I’ll go to SYTAR next year.

Environmental Transitioning

This isn’t a nutrition post, or a health post really. Each winter, my husband and I are lucky enough to spend a few months on Kauai, HI. He’s a surfer, so our lives at times (most of the time, really) mold to that.
What strikes me is how much easier it is to follow a healthy lifestyle here than on the East Coast. There’s just so much more fresh organic produce. Daily life is just more physical here – opportunities to be active are just everywhere, and are more fun. On Nantucket, I have to drag myself to a class, run down the road, or do a cable-TV workout. Sorry to whine, but there’s just less zing to those activities, and they seem more isolated there. Here, our eyes, for some reason, are opened a little wider. Anyway, coming here saves my life on an annual basis.
This year, my 79-on-Saturday mom is here. (It was us, our cat, our surfboards, and my mom flying out here – like modern-day Beverly Hillbillies.) It’s been great and I cherish every day we get to spend with her – and she’s having a ball.
But it has kept me from work, and writing much that you’d actually want to read on this blog. So, hang in there. She heads back to the snow (which there is, finally) on the 15th, and I’m off to LA a few days later. Will blog from there hopefully, or at least when I get back.
I’ll never voluntarily give up coming here!
Happy travels. And, as my husband says, vacations are for those who take them.