Weekly Newsletter

The Yoga Journal Conference Comes To Florida

Hello Friends,

Last weekend the Yoga Journal conference was here in North Miami. I was fortunate enough to attend as one of Shiva Rea’s assistants. I spend my time in her classes and that was fulfilling for me.

This was the first conference that I have attended where I have not been a wondering butterfly and taken many different classes. I think if I were not pregnant and having to watch my energy levels, I would of taken a few more classes.

The numbers attending the seminar were much lower this year but they had a terrific roster of wonderful teachers. There was a great uplifting buzz of yogi’s and yogini’s walking around with their yoga gear on and showing smiling faces.

If you have never attended a conference, it is a valuable experience to be able to get a taste of a variety of teachers that you may of never studied with before, and get nourished with new information to fill your spirit of learning.

The Secret Technique to keeping Long Lasting Clients:

While talking to other teachers and yoga friends at the conference I discovered some only teach classes and would like to have privates or some only teach privates. The most frequently asked questions I get is “how long have your private clients been with you and How do you hold on to them?”

I have mentioned it before and I am going to tell you what I do that works so well with people. It is called Restoraflow™. People have called me and e-mailed me with interest to my last workshops with Restoraflow and been curious how it is different that restorative yoga.

This system that I created was designed to work with all levels of people and specifically to assist in healing different peoples' injuries and areas of pain or severe tightness. It was a natural evolution that came to me through working with clients one on one and have to adjust yoga in many ways to serve the client in a way that could allow them to gain the most benefit from our session.

Restorative Yoga as pioneered by Judith Lassiter and others has immense benefits and is a wonderful type of yoga. In restorative yoga you use many props and put the client in yoga assisted poses using various props. Usually these poses tend to be quite relaxing and are held for different amounts of time. The teacher may give different breathing exercises or include some visualized meditations.

When one comes out of a restorative yoga class they usually feel very relaxed, their body released of stress or tension and their minds rejuvenated. In restorative yoga the poses are stationary and held.

There are many people who come to yoga for the first time as true beginners and have incredibly stiff bodies and places where there energy is blocked. I find the people who sit at a desk or computer all day tend to have stiffer bodies that other people who may have jobs where they are standing and moving around.

The biggest difference between Restorative yoga and Restoraflow is that I incorporated flow into the sequencing. It is our nature to want to move and discover the creative flow that pulses within our bodies. The majority of people do not move very much in their daily lives. They may take a walk, go on the elliptical at the local gym, do many crunches to get hot abs, swim a few laps and many more various activities. I think all of this type of physical exercise is wonderful, but when it comes to people practicing yoga and especially people who have many issues with their body, they need to move as well as experience deep restorative poses.

What I found with my clients is not only did they need restorative poses but I also needed to get them to move and flow with their breath. Restoraflow is a combination of restorative yoga and flow. I see some of my clients several times a week and other only once or twice but they have stayed with me for years. Restoraflow is what I teach them. There are days we do other kinds of yoga as well but for the most part Restoraflow has helped my clients recover from severe back pain, shoulder injuries, neck stiffness and knee complaints.

In the upcoming weeks I will be posting a video on our website to show you a Restoraflow sun salutation that I specially created to help open up the spine and for people dealing with back problems. I use this a lot if I am doing a session to help one of my clients with back issues. I would start the session off with 3-5 rounds of this salutation and them move on to a combination of restorative poses as well as flowing sequences.

Feel free to learn this sun salutation and once you have it in your own body, teach it to your students. I only ask that when you teach it that you call it by its name and that it is from a technique called Restoraflow.

Continue to enjoy your students and clients and all that they show you . It is when we can step back and cultivate and open ear and eye, the inner teacher begins to take in all that others teach us.

Blessings,

Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy your families.

Shanti,

Sara

Yoga Gets Banned!

(Here's the news story. My response is below.)

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) — Muslims in Malaysia should not practice yoga because it will erode their faith in Islam, a senior Islamic cleric said Saturday.

"Yoga is forbidden for Muslims. The practice will erode their faith in the religion," Abdul Shukor Husin, chairman of the government-backed National Fatwa Council, told reporters.

"We advice Muslims not to practice yoga. It does not conform with Islam," he said in response to a call to ban Muslims from doing yoga

Islam is the official religion of Malaysia, where more than 60 percent of the population of 27 million are Muslim Malays who practice a conservative brand of the religion.

Yoga, an ancient Indian aid to meditation dating back thousands of years, is a popular stress-buster in Kuala Lumpur.

Zakaria Stapa, a professor at the Islamic faculty of the National University of Malaysia, recently called on Muslims to stop doing yoga as it could cause them to "deviate from their faith".

Abdul Shukor said yoga involved physical and religious elements of Hinduism including the recitation of mantras.

He could not say how many Muslims were practising yoga but called on state authorities to punish those who do.

Harlan's comments:

While yoga faithful all over the world are upset with the decision in Malaysia to ban yoga, it's not hard to see where the Muslims are coming from.

Islam has always had passionate difficulty accepting the deities of Hinduism. They reject all statues and have gone to war many times over this issue with Hindus.

And while people say yoga is not a religion, how many elements are the modern yoga studio actually are connected to Hinduism.

From the chanting, to the music playing, to the deities and altars, yoga often serves as a "front door" to Hindu practices.

At a recent yoga class I attended, there was an hour puja service of offerings to a deity. Was I uncomfortable? Darned right.

But to clarify, I don't have a problem with the connection of yoga and Hinduism but let's be honest. When something like this - which I disagree with - occurs in Malaysia, it's not the time to look blankly at the walls and say, "Gee, I don't know what they are talking about."

What do you think? Please share on our forum.

Om Shanti Shalommmm,