The Flexibility Myth

    We seem to have this idea that in order to do yoga we must be flexible.  This simply is not true.  Flexibility comes as a result of doing yoga for those who were not flexible at the start of their yoga practice.
     I came to yoga very stiff and tight.  I could not even touch my toes! Gradually and with practice I gained flexibility.  I may never be able to touch my foot to the top of my head or sit in full lotus but it doesn't make me any less of a yogi.
      Be patient with yourself, be kind to yourself, and be content with where you are in your practice.  Everyone has a different body and everyones practice will look a little bit different.  Don't be afraid to start because you are not flexible.  Just keep practicing and it will come.

Discovery of The Self

     Who am I? Why am I here? What is my purpose? What is my truth? These are questions we ask ourselves.  We want to know who we are, why we are here, and what we should do with the time we have been given.  We are searching for purpose, direction, inspiration, happiness, love, truth, and wholeness.
     Our society tells us to find theses things we should look outside our selves.  We should try to fit in. We should buy things to bring us happiness.  We should hold tightly onto the good and stay away from the bad.  Yoga teaches us something else.
     Yoga teaches us we all have the answers within ourselves.  It teaches us to find contentment within each moment. We learn how to be present, how to be patient, and how to practice non-violence and non-stealing.  Yoga teaches us how to find truth within ourselves.  As we find the truth within our selves we will know who we are, why we are here, and what we want to do with our lives.
   

What Different Styles of Yoga Offer

     Over the last three weeks I have been fortunate enough to be able to devote this month to deepening my understanding of yoga and learning how to teach and share it with others.  I have been studying at Yoga Garden in San Francisco with an amazing group of people.  I have spent six days a week with them and we have grown quite close.  We have laughed, cried, fallen out of poses, and had physical and emotional breakthroughs together.  It has been quite an amazing journey and its not over yet!
     In this training I have been exposed to many different teaching styles and styles of yoga.   I am grateful Yoga Garden had a variety of teachers leading their 200 hour teacher training.  This has given me the opportunity to see what resonates with me, what feels right in my body, and what direction I wish to take my practice and my teaching.  This has taught me there is no right or wrong or one perfect way to practice or teach yoga.  Everyone is different so it only makes sense that different styles of yoga will resonate with each of us.
     I would encourage everyone, new yoga students and people with established yoga practices to try out different styles of yoga.  See what you enjoy, see what you are neutral towards, and see what you dislike.  Then I challenge you to look deeper into why you like or dislike a certain style.  Do you love Vinyasa because you are moving and sweating or do you dislike it because you don't get to hold a pose for very long? Do you love Yin because of the deep stretching and release or do you dislike it because you can't seem to relax and your mind is racing? Do you enjoy Iyengar because you gain a better understanding of alignment in the pose and explore how deep you can get into a pose or do you dislike it because you become impatient or want to do more poses in a class?
     I challenge you to dig deeper and find out why you are feeling these things.  In my own practice I found I gravitated toward more movement style classes because I didn't have to think.  When I took slower paced classes I had a hard time staying present.  I challenged myself to do the things that were harder for me and still try to find the same peace and presence I found in faster pace classes.  Going to more Yin and Iyengar classes taught me how to be in my body and how to still my mind.  These practices also helped me in my flow practice.  I had better alignment from practicing Iyengar and was more open because of practicing Yin.
     So go out there and find what is true for your body, your mind, and your practice! I would love to hear what works for you and any stories you have about finding what practices work for you!

Namaste
Ali

Getting Past I Can't

     Getting past thinking I can't do certain yoga poses has been both challenging and rewarding. Why do we tell ourselves we can't do something? In my practice I can't has been based on fear.  Fear of failure, fear of not being good enough, fear of injury, fear of falling, and fear of the pose itself.
     During these first two weeks of teacher training I have become aware of the things I tell myself I can't do and how they are holding me back.  I had been telling myself I can't do a handstand because I have wrist problems, instead of looking for ways to work with my wrist problems.  My teachers have been encouraging me to simply try.  This meant doing the prep work for the pose, getting comfortable with that, strengthening where I needed to strengthen, become confident in my alignment, and finally attempting to get into a handstand with out judging myself if I didn't get all the way up.  After a few days I was able to get my feet up! Then my work became staying up. There is always something else to work on in a pose.
     Practicing in this way brought my attention to the fact that telling myself I can't do something was not serving me.  In reality it was doing quite opposite, it was stoping me from growing and exploring new possibilities.  This has also made me look at the reasons why I was telling myself I couldn't do something.  It was all about fear.  I was afraid I would not do a pose well or I would fail.  It is better to try and fall or try and not be perfect than to have never tried at all.
     Having this new insight into my practice has had quite an impact on the way a practice.  I have a new willingness to explore and try new things.  It is not about being able to do the pose perfectly right away but about trying new things and working on making them better.
     With this new attitude I was able to start practicing a pose I thought I would never be able to do Urdhva Dhanurasana/Wheel Pose.  I started out with putting my hands down behind my head, then working on the action of lifting up, then when I had enough space getting my head onto the ground, then using the strength in my arms to lift up.  I am sure I didn't achieve the most beautiful Urdhva Dhanurasana ever but I brought a new pose into my practice that I can practice and slowly get better at.
     I am now stepping onto my mat with a new openness to try.  I can try new poses and work on the set up so one day when I am strong enough or open enough to do the pose I will be able to.  But until that happens I will be content working on getting there.  Yoga poses are not a destination they are a journey.  On that journey we learn a great deal about ourselves both on and off of the mat.  Don't let I can't get in the way of your journey.

How I Got Here

Hi!
     My name is Ali Snapp and I grew up in Los Osos, Ca. A small beach town on the central coast.  I grew up playing sports and being very active.  I played soccer quite competitively for four year and ran track in high school.  Two broken feet, ruptured calf muscle, severe spinal lordosis, patella-femoral syndrom and three broken fingers later I got to the point where I could no longer do the things I was use to doing.  This was devastating. I didn't know how I could be active while dealing with these injuries and the healing of theses injuries. At one point it was difficult to walk very far and stand for extended periods of time.  So I did my best with the injuries I was dealing with.
     I found yoga in an odd way, through my job.  I was hired to work at a yoga studio and sell yoga memberships and help students find the right classes and guide them along in their yoga journey.  I had heard about yoga but had never tried it.  I was under the impression I needed to be flexible inorder to do yoga.  Therefore, I was very nervous about starting a practice.  I was blessed to have kind and understanding teachers from the beginning.   They put me at ease and taught me to accept where I am.  They told me yoga is a practice and every day will be different.
     This was a big shift for me as a former athlete.  I had to shift from the mentality of I want to win to a mentality of I am here.  I could not look at a pose like a soccer game or a race I wanted to win.  Yes a pose has a point of full extension but it can't be viewed the same as winning a race or a game.  I had to come to terms with the idea it may take me years to fully extend through a pose and I may never get there but that is not what it is about.  Furthermore, once I have attained full extension within a pose there is still more I can work in while I am holding the pose.  I had to come to realize yoga is about being present in the moment and accepting where you are and being ok with that.  Knowing that we are ok just the way we are.  Yoga is a journey not a destination.
     I am honored to share this journey with you and would enjoy and appreciate any comments or personal stories you would like to share.

Namaste