Ironically for Arthur it was Diamond Dallas Page, a former WWF wrestler in his 50′s who for the last 10 years has been teaching “Yoga for Real Men”, and now what he calls DDP Yoga. I’ll get to the irony in a moment. DDP was injured himself from countless wrestling matches and had to end his career or risk permanent damage. When he started practicing yoga he could barely touch his knees! Over time he became back pain free and felt inspired to share what he learned with others. As the video shows, Arthur needed just one person to believe in him with conviction and tell him that he could make a change, and low and behold his belief system shifted from “I will never” to “yes I can, one day”/”never give up”!

The irony for me was that this past weekend we had a teacher training weekend and watched Enlighten Up, a documentary where a girl hires a journalist to immerse himself into yoga for 6 months to see how transformational it can be in his life. They travel the work to practice with many teachers, one of which is DDP. One of the trainees was slightly put off with his irreverence to the spirit of yoga. In one scene I believe he says “it’s not about namaste, it’s about T and A!”; making reference to the very hot, large chested, and scantily clothed women he had asked to join for practice. The trainee expressed her discontent and we talked about it briefly. I left it at: “For some people this is a gateway into practicing yoga and if they are able to gain some benefit from it, then it serves it’s purpose. There are many that would decry sacrilege at the abomination at what we call yoga at Y2, but people benefit from it.”

This video supports my argument.

In the movie, they try and answer “what is yoga?”. They conclude that there wasn’t a firm definition, that it was whatever you want it to be. I think that is the perfect definition. Some find a workout in yoga, while others find refuge from what they are dealing with in their lives. Some are seeking the freedom from back pain, while others are on the path to enlightenment. What ever yoga is for you is perfect for you right here and right now.

Going back to the impact that Rich had on my life, I might point ou that when I told Rich at the end of the Summer how big of an impact his words of encouragement had he said, “I was just bullshitting you! I just wanted to make you feel good!”. LOL. RIch is a car salesman by the way…

Lift up those around. Give compliments just to see someone smile or make them feel good. Lift up those around you and they will be there to lift you up too.

If you have personal stories of how yoga has helped you or how someone in you life has inspired you to make a positive change in some way please share!

Peace,
TB

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Rating: 9 out of 10 (from 44 votes)

The following is my true account of a relationship with a celebrity. I have never before disclosed these details.

 

I met her in September of 1996 in an LA yoga studio. Go figure.

 

She was not yet famous but one dose of her energy and I knew she was gonna be big…it was only a matter of time.

 

I will never, ever forget our first encounter…how I was just lying there, half naked, short of breath, in a state of emotional, spiritual, and physical rapture.

 

I followed her around the world…Cuba, Italy, Mexico, Hawaii, Belize, Costa Rica.

 

When she got excited, she spoke in her native tongue. She was foreign. I couldn’t think of anything sexier than her barking out orders in an exotic language.

 

She taught me so much about life…and touched my soul in ways and places I didn’t know possible.

 

She went to another level of stardom after she graced the cover of Time Magazine in the early 2000s. I remember saying under my breath, “This will change everything.”

 

And then she was on Oprah and it only added fuel to the fire.

 

COULD IT LAST?

 

The romance somehow endured the stardom right up until 2006, when the love died, seemingly overnight.

 

From 2006 up until very recently, I suffered greatly and missed her love. I have never told anyone before about this pain.

 

Who is this celebrity???

Cher?

No.

 

Diane Cannon?

No.

 

Kathy Bates?

No.

 

Her name..YOGA. The above account details my falling in and out of love, not with a person, but with the ancient practice.

 

CRASH AND BURN

 

When I first started in 1996, yoga was just getting big.

 

But she became a full blown celeb in the early 2000′s spawning yoga fashion trends, big league prices, and varying effects on our attitude.

 

Maybe you yogis can relate? So many of us fall hard and heavy into a deeply sensual relationship with yoga.

 

We take a training, go on a retreat, buy all the stuff, tell everyone we know about yoga…

…until that one friend or relative gets annoyed: “If you freakin say one more thing about goshdarn freakin yoga, I’ll light your freakin mat on fire!”

 

And then, over time, many of us burn out on yoga.

 

It used to be that any pose, any adjustment, any spiritual teaching would be like the first raindrop on parched desert soil.

 

But then, like an addict, I needed more poses, more adjustments, more spiritual teachings. I wasn’t getting the yoga high I used to get.

And I became bored, lazy, it was a job.

 

To be perfectly honest with you, I’ve been running on fumes for years. How many times can you do down dog before you just wanna explode your mula-freakin-bandha?

 

A STARTLING REVELATION

 

But then last week I awoke in the middle of the night (those 5pm espresso shots are never a good idea) and I picked up a classic spiritual book, The Power of Intention, and turned to just the right page (so it goes when we are willing to Listen).

 

The author Wayne Dyer writes, “Every time I see a coin on the street, I stop, pick it up, put it into my pocket, and say out loud, ‘Thank you, God, for this symbol of abundance that keeps flowing into my life.’ Never once have I asked, ‘Why only a penny, God? You know I need a lot more than that.’ ”

 

There was a yoga class I took in New York City a few weeks ago.

 

It was a new teacher, in her early 20′s. The asana was basic, as I’m sure many of you would say is the best possible way to describe my less-than-thrilling asana teaching.

 

But this new teacher’s energy, passion, and old soul wisdom were off-the-charts fresh and invigorating.

 

In a city (NYC) of Dharma Mittras and Dayna Flynns (AMAZING), it was a newbie teaching basic sequences, counting breaths, and lovin every freakin second of it…that lit my yoga soul on fire all over again.

 

I think it’s fair to say this Law of The Penny applies not just to yoga but to anything with a delicate alchemy…from marriage to parenting to writing:

When we’ve lost the juice, look NOT to the fruit, but to the seed.

 

-Keep an open mind when that brand new yoga teacher is subbing for your favorite superstar. Their fresh energy has a way of seeping past a sheath of doubt and injecting new love right into your heart.

 

-Embrace your spouse in a way you haven’t touched her for many moons. If doctors would only write scripts: “A strong, long, deep hug…2x day…morning…and night.”

 

-Catch yourself next time you are walking and you see a glittering penny on the sidewalk.

 

As a wise one said, “As we become curators of our own contentment on the path to abundance, we learn to savor the small with a grateful heart.”

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Rating: 7 out of 10 (from 38 votes)

Via Waylon Lewis

Fun. – We’re Not Young (Yahoo! Parody)

Start a Blog. I know that I’m fat. I’m scared. Maybe I could finally do that yoga class. Ice cream & TV. Words with Friends. Pineapple. Yoga teacher training.

An anthem for you if you’re in your 30s and your friends have babies and all they do is talk about having babies and if you’ve gained weight or s/he is waiting for you to propose and you’ve accomplished less than you thought you would’ve and if you’re settling in love or vocation. Tonight…

Toniiiiiiiggghhhtttt, we’re not young:

Original Source.

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Rating: 10 out of 10 (from 48 votes)

I mainly did this post so I had a reason to post one of my favorite blog posts ever that I came across from a year ago, along with some other goodies. Rather than constantly having to look it up to send to people that need it I thought I would just post it to Y2′s site so it would be archived for easy retrieval.

Why Lying Broken in a Pile on Your Bedroom Floor is a Good Idea. ~ Julie (JC) Peters

The Goddess of never not broken.

You know that feeling when you have just gone through a breakup, or lost your job, and everything is terrible and terrifying and you don’t know what to do, and you find yourself crying in a pile on your bedroom floor, barely able to remember how to use the phone, desperately looking for some sign of God in old letters, or your Facebook newsfeed or on Glee, finding nothing there to comfort you?

Come on, yes you do. We all do.

And there is a goddess from Hindu mythology that teaches us that, in this moment, in this pile on the floor, you are more powerful than you’ve ever been.

This past week, I have been deeply inspired by a talk I heard on the Yoga Teacher Telesummit by Eric Stoneberg on this relatively unknown Goddess from Hindu mythology: Akhilandeshvari.

This figure has snuck up inside me and settled into my bones. She keeps coming out of my mouth every time I teach, and she’s given me so much strength and possibility during a time of change and uncertainty in my own life. I wanted to unpack a little bit about who she is for those that might be, like me, struggling a little bit in that pile on the floor and wondering how the hell to get up again.

The answer, it turns out, is this: in pieces, warrior-style, on the back of a crocodile. Yee ha. Read more…

Adding to that one…

Here is another beautifully written one:

Tingling Scars

As I leave the embrace of his arms and pull my luggage up the escalator I look back just once. I remember a moment quite like this one just a few years back and goose bumps scatter my core. Literally trying to shake the fear from my body, I fidget until my breath becomes less sporadic. It’s my own history that triggers the anxiety not my actual reality. Unfortunately, most scars simply fade with time; rarely do they disappear forever.

Love can blind you; leaving lasting impressions from its incredible spark to its probable ash. It was early winter for you, but down in Argentina I was beginning to see the flowers bloom and the trees bud. 2009 was approaching its end and I was 5 months into my 6th month stint in Buenos Aires. I didn’t know then 6 months would take me home for good, I wish I could have seen what was coming but I blame it on the blindfold. Read more…

Why am I posting this again?

Great question!
For those going through “stuff”, this is like CRACK! When we are in the midst of a storm in our lives we seem to be drawn to those things that amplify the intoxication that comes from misery, sadness, and guilt. So, consider those articles above the cheese in a mouse trap to lure those in a state of discontent in order to show them there is light at the end of the tunnel.  We get addicted to emotions and we start to fall victim to a vacuum that we ourselves create!

Why the hell do we do that?

Why is it when we go through a break up that we will listen the same depressing song over, and over, and over again?

And why is it every love song is about us, and seems to fit perfectly into our current plight?

Keep bleeding | Keep, keep bleeding love | I keep bleeding I keep, keep bleeding love | Keep bleeding | Keep, keep bleeding love | You cut me open

What compels us to be so irrational?

This is the reason I wrote this…

It’s because that’s the way we are wired!

During teacher training at Y2 we watch one of my favorite movies in the WORLD:

This is one of my favorite movies in EVER!

It’s about quatum physics and the wacky stuff that goes on at the cellular level (and smaller).

I’m not going to write any more. Watch the videos below and start to understand how you work. This is yoga! Yoga is union with self! We are here to learn about ourselves.

My goal is that by having you watch these videos you will start to see the power you have in controlling your emotional state and how you experience life.

This stuff is REALLY cray y’all!

Beautifially stated in Ecclesiastes there is a time for everything, but don’t be an “addict” to your emotional state.

For those going through tough times know that all you have to do in order to get out of that place is to interrupt that pattern! Go out with friends, watch a favorite movie, take a walk, take a trip, or even just take a yoga class!

A Time for Everything

1For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven.

2A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.

3A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to tear down and a time to build up.

4A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance.

5A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
A time to embrace and a time to turn away.

6A time to search and a time to quit searching.
A time to keep and a time to throw away.

7A time to tear and a time to mend.
A time to be quiet and a time to speak.

8A time to love and a time to hate.
A time for war and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

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Rating: 8 out of 10 (from 10 votes)

Yoga Guru

Karate Master

Wait for it…I’m tying it all in now….kinda

Similarly, Gurji spent MOST of his time teaching yoga asana and very little time teaching the other limbs of Ashtanga Yoga (more advanced yoga techniques). That doesn’t mean that he didn’t teach the other limbs; he did to those that were ready. Guruji knew that in order for a student to be mentally and physically ready for those other techniques they needed to be strong mentally and physicall, AND asana lays down that foundation.

Personally, I don’t say much of anything in my yoga classes other than calling out poses. Occasionally I’ll have some nugget of truthiness to offer (or more often some inappropriate joke to share), but the majority of the time I just say poses. Since I have been teaching I have seen my regulars cry, laugh, and be moved by coming to my classes both mentally and physically. My point in bringing that up is because I don’t say anything but poses, and yet still yoga works it’s magic!

Whether you know it, or believe it, or not: YOGA CHANGES YOU! There are those moments on your mat where you get really quiet and really focused, you narrow your focus and you start to develop an understanding of your own wiring. It’s amazing! Enjoy that process!

Don’t rush the process! There is a reason why trigonometry is not taught to toddlers!  Learn from the masters like Mr. Miyagi and Guruji and “Wax on, Wax off” and “Practice, practice, practice…all will be coming”.

I mean look at Ralph Macchio’s career: just when he thought he wasn’t gonna get ANY further in life, BAM….he lands a small part in My Cousin Vinny! In yoga we call that samadhi my yogis! Samadhi!

Check out this interview with Patthabi Jois on Yoga!

Peace

TB

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Rating: 10 out of 10 (from 19 votes)

I have long been a fan of Tony Robbins! I remember when a client of mine gave me the full cd collection of Personal Power 2 (all of them were in plastic except the first one! ha!). Those cd’s completely reshaped my perspective on life. This video is all about FOCUS. In yoga we practice every second and every minute on our mats trying to narrow our focus. In yoga you focus on your breathe, your drishti, your bandhas, your balance, on engaging our muscles intelligently, etc… It is a constant battle, the mind can is constantly influx, BUT there are tricks to directing where the mind turns to from one moment to the next: RITUALS! In Ashtanga Yoga the series is always the same so it is VERY MUCH a ritualistic practice. (BTW check out the *New* Ashtanga Yoga section on our website) This helps to calm the mind and build a neural network that eventually allows you to focus less on what your doing (because the body knows what to do) and more about the internal “you”; this leads to meditation. Really the hardest obstacle to overcome is not the finding of a ritual to practice, but rather stopping the one you are practicing now of NOT choosing a more LIFE EMPOWERING, LIFE CHANGING, LIFE GIVING ritual. The hardest part is DECIDING you want to make a change.

It was Tony Robbin’s who taught me that “to decide” means in Latin, dcdere, or, to cut off. Meaning that you “cut off” all other possibilites because you made a decision; you decided.

Yoga means “to unite or to yoke (connect)”.

Tony Robbin’s is self improvement guru, and probably the best there every was, but in my book he is also a yoga master because he helps people realize the limitless potential they have allowed to remain dormant inside of them. He re-unites people with themselves. That is what yoga is all about: reuniting you with you; teaching you how you work from the inside out; and what makes you tick!

Check out the video and get FOCUSED!

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Rating: 10 out of 10 (from 36 votes)

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When you have an ‘I Hate My Job day’ [Even if you're retired, you sometimes have those days] try this out:

1. Stop at your pharmacy and go to the thermometer section and purchase a rectal thermometer made by Johnson & Johnson. Be very sure you get this brand.
2. When you get home, lock your doors, draw the curtains and disconnect the phone so you will not be disturbed.
3. Change into very comfortable clothing and sit in your favorite chair.
4. Open the package and remove the thermometer.
5. Now, carefully place it on a table or a surface so that it will not become chipped or broken.
6. Now the fun part begins.
7. Take out the literature from the box and read it carefully.
8. You will notice that in small print there is this statement: “Every Rectal Thermometer made by Johnson & Johnson is personally tested and then sanitized.”
9. Now, close your eyes and repeat out loud five times,‘ I am so glad I do not work in the thermometer quality control department at Johnson & Johnson.’

HAVE A NICE DAY; AND REMEMBER, THERE IS ALWAYS SOMEONE ELSE WITH A JOB THAT IS MORE OF A PAIN IN THE BUTT THAN YOURS!

If you haven’t got a smile on your face and laughter in your heart… Maybe you should go and work for Johnson and Johnson!

Enjoy life – It has an expiration date!

[Another offering from my mom <3 )

Peace

TB

144

Rating: 9 out of 10 (from 34 votes)

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I got this email today from a former student and good friend, Michele:

This is not a rare occurrence. I have heard so many times over the years that the yoga in Charlotte blows every other place people visit out of the water. I know that Michele is specifically say she misses my classes, but I want to give credit where credit is due and acknowledge that I was taught by an amazing teacher over at Charlotte Yoga, Grace Morales. She first introduced me to the style of Power Yoga that Bryan Kest (the founder of Power Yoga) taught to her. Charlotte Yoga was my first studio and I can remember the days of Hot 26 with Suzanne Bergen. When I was there I heard the same thing about peoples experiences when they traveled: it’s just not as good as yoga in Charlotte!

Since starting Y2 Yoga I have obviously developed my own style of teaching yoga and personal preferences for how I expect classes to be lead, and the environment in which they are taught, so if you love it then thank you, but overall yoga in charlotte is AMAZING! If you have never tried Charlotte Yoga, or Laughing Buddha, or Yoga Flex, Be Yoga, Noda Yoga, Yoga one…. and the list goes on (we have a section on our website outlining other local studios here), then you are missing out and I encourage you to branch out. Everyone has their own personal preference and may have a “home base” which they always practice at, but regardless I can promise you one thing:
YOGA IN CHARLOTTE
ROCKS! Anywhere you practice in Charlotte I can promise you that it will have something that it offers that for some reason just feels better than abroad. It could just be that I/We are home-bodies and just like our town and our yoga, but I don’t know. I don’t want to say that yoga in other cities is not AMAZING yoga for yogis that practice, or amazing in general, please know that I love ALL yoga, but  I have practiced in other cities and I have had the same experience. I have truly never had a yoga experience any where else that compares to the intensity, focus, and commitment like I have had the studios here in Charlotte

So here is my yoga question to you:

Why is yoga in Charlotte so great?

Has it been your experience that yoga in Charlotte seems to have risen the bar compared to other cities or have you found another yoga studio elsewhere that offers something better? IF so where, and what was it?

And finally, if Y2 is your home base, then why? I would like to refine the recipe as to what makes Y2 Yoga great, so we can make it even better!

I would love to hear your feedback.

Concerning a video or DVD… I’ll see what I can do…

Peace
TB

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Rating: 10 out of 10 (from 47 votes)

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Yoga 101 – Be flexible…

“Blessed are the flexible for they will not get bent out of shape.” – Anonymous

This quote is so commonly used within the yoga community that it may be cliche to those that have been practicing for a while.

Flexible about what?

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “The great majority of men are bundles of beginnings.” Are you merely a starter, or are you also a finisher? When the entusiasm for a new idea fades, when the odds against you increase and the results diminish, when it looks as if success is impossible, you must keep forging ahead. Admiral Robert Peary attempted to reach the North Pole seven times before he finally succeeded. Oscar Hammerstein produced five shows on Broadway that were flops before staging “Oklahoma,” which was seen by almost five million people during a record-breaking run of 2,212 performances. Quitting is more about who you are, than where you are or what you’re up against. We all have our excuses. The truth is external things don’t stop us; it’s what happens to us on the inside! Most of us stop ourselves from reaching our potential. We can pretend that people, things, and situations outside of ourselves are to blame, but in reality most failures are just the result of a lack of bulldog-like tenacity. Leonardo da Vinci said, “obstacles cannot crush me. Every obstacle yields to stern resolve. He who is fixed on a star, does not change his mind.” You must have a mindset to tenaciously pursue your dream. The only guarantee for failure is to stop trying. There is no insurmountable barrier except your own inherent lack of purpose and persistence.

(My mother sent me these words of encouragement the other day btw…Mom’s are the BEST!)

Yoga makes you flexible in more ways than one…

For the beginner this may seem like mumbo jumbo, but for anyone that has spent even 6 months plus on their yoga mat this makes perfect sense. Patience has a bend; gratitude has a bend; humility has a bend; reaction time to those things that annoy you has a bend; etc…
Yoga transcends all the poses, and all of the sweat, and all of the work you do on your 12sqft of mat space. It is the MOST common analogy made: what you practice on your mat helps you off of your mat. When you practice being patient with yourself over the frustration of not being able to do a pose today, that practice makes you patient with yourself over all aspects of your life. It’s as if you have a patience muscle that you spend 60-90 mins doing reps with, challenging it sometimes beyond fatigue. This is why yoga changes us and why, when you start down the path, for most you can never turn back. The yoga journey never ends. It sort of reminds me of when Neo was offered the Blue pill or the Red pill. Once you have taken the Red pill (yoga) you can’t turn back; the lights are on and you start to see the world in a whole new way!
Hooray for Yoga! Hooray because through the yoga practice people find balance in their lives, renewed strength in their bodies, and conviction in their souls! Hooray that moms can take yoga so they don’t want to kill their children or gnaw off the heads of their husbands! And hooray that because of yoga you meet people that you may have never met and that have inspired you to do things you may have never done! And finally hooray for yoga… because otherwise I wouldn’t have a yoga studio, with a yoga website, where I created a yoga blog, and I get to share my excitement over quotes my mom sent me about overcoming obstacles and making them your little bitches!

Love you all!

Peace
TB

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Rating: 7 out of 10 (from 45 votes)

The Following are for demonstration purposes. Modify the practice for yourself!

Sun A

Sun A w/ Handstand

Sun B

Backbending to a Beat

Y2 Power 1 Sequencing

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Rating: 10 out of 10 (from 24 votes)